


The assistant

by Zoya113



Category: Black Friday - Team StarKid, The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: F/M, I have no clue what CCRP does and it shows but just play along, It sucks ass ngl, I’m deadass deleting this in a week, Other, do I put a tw for talk about overwatch, tw eating, tw for talk about kidnapping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:00:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 22,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25914001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zoya113/pseuds/Zoya113
Summary: Melissa has to run a few errands for CCRPs new biggest client, Linda Monroe, which is definitely more trouble than it’s worth. None of her friends are all too pleased.
Relationships: Emma Perkins/ Paul Matthews, Linda/ Gary (implied, Linda/ Gerald, Melissa/ Doug
Comments: 7
Kudos: 19





	The assistant

**Author's Note:**

> This literally sucks ass I’m aware omfg consider this a shitpost but I will be deleting it in a couple days I think once I have better stuff out but here’s a like 15k shitpost for what audience I don’t know 😳

“This is... concerning.” Those were the first words out of Melissa’s mouth as she stepped into the office that morning. The front door was already unlocked and people were rushing in and out, none of which she had ever seen before. 

She slipped by one of them to get inside, watching them hurry to and from Mr Davidson’s office, collecting sheets from him and boxes lined up on the tables or frantically signing things off with their heads in their papers.

She weaved her way through a trio of men as they darted in and out the doors, trying not to get clocked by their blind steps. 

“Mr Davidson?” She ducked quickly into his office to avoid colliding with the man coming up behind her. She watched him snatch up a piece of paper her boss had just signed before racing back out. “Good morning.”

“Oh good morning Melissa!” He chirped, still focuses on signing off papers. “You won’t believe the phone call I got last night,” he was almost humming to himself which made her smile, because at least that meant nothing was wrong. “We have a new client.”

“A big one,” she commented, stepping out of the way again and someone ran by her, a little more frantic than the rest and with a phone clutched to his ear. 

He laughed. “Spot on. I got the call at a quarter to midnight which was very annoying,” he lowered his voice down to keep it between them as she moved in closer to his desk. “But it was a client who made a big enough order to almost sell us out of stock! We’ve gone well past our quarterlies Melissa!”

“Oh great!” She watched him fork another signed piece of paper over. She didn’t know who could possibly need that much stuff. “Getting an early start huh?”

“Well the warehouse started early too, they’re already sending things her way!”

“Oh so it’s like, big big?” 

“Big, big big,” Mr Davidson corrected her. “I have no clue what she could need all this for, mind you. But I don’t feel it’s my place to ask!” He chuckled in delight, not even seeming to be bothered by the absurd amount of paperwork he was plowing through. 

Surely this would affect their usually schedules in some way. “Mr Davidson, what would you like me to take care of today?” 

“I’ve got something special planned for you actually,” he grinned, pushing one last piece across before putting his pen down to look up at her. “Melissa!” He started as if to officially begin the conversation. “You know what goes on here just as well as I do.” 

“I do!” She confirmed, bouncing on the tips of her toes. 

“Well I’m sure our client is going to need a hand with preparing,” he suggested. “It wouldn’t be any trouble to make sure the deliveries are running smoothly would it? Help the client with preparing?” 

“Oh, sure!” That was new! Shaking things up a little, definitely not the standard request but she didn’t see how it breached her responsibilities. It would be exciting to get out of the office too, away from any supervision.

“Here’s the address, I’ve already told her you were coming so she should be expecting you. We’ll have someone handle the office affairs today for you alright?” 

She gave a salute. “On it, sir!”

“Just make sure she’s, you know,” he lowered his voice right down again. “Not a serial killer or something before you step inside okay? She did frighten me a little bit over the phone.”

She snorted. “Yes, sir. I will.” How bad could this lady possibly be? 

Although perhaps she was too quick to brush away red flags just because she liked making friends. She saw her from across her horseshoe driveway, bossing around those men from earlier and the poor warehouse workers who were bringing in her boxes. 

She didn’t mean to stare, but the lady’s eyes met hers and her expression changed completely. She put in this saccharine smile, raising the hand not attached to her phone to beckon her over.

At least it wasn’t a surprise to the lady she was coming. She gathered her bag and hurried across the excessively big driveway to catch up to her as the woman walked entered through the big archway, leaving the front door open. 

She broke out into a jog, ducking by all the workers in the yard to stay out of their way the best she could. 

“So you’re my new assistant!“ She cooed. “Come inside, follow me,” she called from where she was already moving into another room, barely giving Melissa the time to marvel at the size of her hallway which was about the size of Melissa’s entire apartment. Nice. 

“Linda Monroe,” she introduced herself over her shoulder. “You must be the help they sent me, wasn’t that a kind gesture!” She laughed, but it almost sounded like a scoff. 

“Melissa Faith.” Perhaps she was just reading into it. “We just wanted to ensure everything was going right on your end,” she tweaked her glasses, slightly disheveled from her jog. “Is there anything you might need help with now? I was just going to walk you through each of your purchases!” She explained. 

“Oh. How interesting! I didn’t know you came with it,” she joked, hopefully. “Well I just need to finish this phone call, why don’t you go be a dear and start unboxing some of the things they’ve left in the kitchen? I’ll need to get to those first,” she waved one of her fingers in a direction somewhere over her shoulder rather absently, like her attention was still on the phone call. She walked off, the sound of her heels echoing against the tile floors, she had quite a stride to her walk too like she really owned the place. Melissa supposed she probably did. 

“This is wildly fancy,” she commented, dragging a finger across a statue in the hallway on her search for the kitchen. Yes. A statue, a real one. Who even had these these days? There wasn’t even any dust on it. 

The kitchen was as big as she had expected too, with an island bar and fancy hanging lights and stainless steel everything. Melissa didn’t know what stainless steel meant kitchen-wise but she knew it was the fancy stuff. 

She shrugged her backpack off onto the table, fishing out her pocket knife to slice into the first box. For a house full of people she wished Linda had introduced her to someone else before leaving her alone. She felt like she was robbing the joint.

“Oh! Hey, you’re the new secretary huh?” There was another woman standing in the arch way with a curious grin and a grey uniform.

“Hi! I’m just here to help out for the day,” she corrected her. “I’m just waiting for Linda to finish a phone call.”

The girl started at her a bit longer, unnervingly so, before letting out a harmless chuckle and a nod. “Okay, girl. If you say so.” And then she was gone.

Melissa raised a brow before turning back to her boxes. If she thought she was a thief she certainly wasn’t doing much about it.

“Hey,” came a small, confused voice from behind her as she cut into her fifth box, slicing through the tape. She turned around to see a young, blonde boy, definitely no older than ten. “Are you gonna make me a snack?”

“Oh, hey kiddo,” she put her box cutter away as to not make a bad impression. “I’m just doing a quick job for your mom you know? Can I grab you anything from the cupboards?” She offered. 

“I want a sandwich,” he requested, standing there looking at her with those big, unblinking eyes like those kids from that horror movie Melissa had never seen. 

“Oh, alright kid. Do you need a hand from me?” She turned her back to the boxes now to look at him properly, tucking her box cutter back into her backpack.

“Can you make it?” 

She blinked. Was that crossing a line? “Maybe you should just go ask your mom for a hand with that, buddy.” She didn’t want to help herself to their pantries. Yes, plural. There were two she was able to make out. And that was only from this side of the kitchen. “I don’t work here, I’m just doing her a favour,” she explained, kind of hunching down to look him in the eye.

“Mom doesn’t make me sandwiches, the person in the kitchen is supposed to,” he answered. “You can make me one, mom says it’s okay.” He pulled himself up a seat at the table, sticking his little hands right into one of the boxes and squeezing a packing peanut between his fingers.

“Oh, well I think she might be talking about one of the workers,” she had seen a few about. “Probably not me, I don’t really work for her she’s just called me in.” 

“So you’re a new worker?”

“No, uh, I’m going home after this,” she laughed. She didn’t know how young he was, maybe growing up in a wealthy family he didn’t get that concept. “Your mom’s letting me go at the end of the day,” she leant her elbows down on the table so she could rest her shoulders. 

He gave a skeptical or confused noise. “Can you just make me something to eat?” He grabbed a handful of packing peanuts, tearing them apart in his hands.

Melissa didn’t like the fiddling but as long as she hurried he wouldn’t do any harm. This wasn’t what she was expecting to lend her PA skills to today, but it was kind of silly! It was the sort of story Paul and Charlotte and all her friends at the office would laugh at when she got back. “Well, what do you want in your sandwich then buddy?” She finally caved. Not very stranger danger of either of them.

———————————————————

“All finished with the boxes, ma’am!” She finally emerged from the kitchen to find Linda sprawled out on the front living room couch, phone still to her ear. Wow. What a business woman. “Is there anything else I could do before I run out to get some lunch?”

She took the phone away from her ear in a slow moment, giving Melissa this weird look that she couldn’t decode. It was almost like a glare and she thought perhaps she shouldn’t have spoken so loudly when she was on the phone but Linda just titled her head. 

“Sorry, I was going to get lunch earlier but one of the boys asked me to make him lunch, I hope that’s alright.” She dipped her head, keeping her hands clutched. “He just seemed hungry.”

“Oh well why are you getting lunch if they’ve already eaten?” She questioned. 

Was that a joke or a misunderstanding? “I was just going to take my break now unless you’d like me to do something else.” 

“Did you eat before you came here Melanie?” 

“Oh, it’s Melissa,” she corrected her with a laugh. “Yes, I had breakfast this morning but it’s the afternoon and it’s usually my break time anyways and I should probably check in with my boss about now.” She tapped a finger to her wrist to indicate the time. 

Linda checked it on her phone, a wry smile coming to her face. “Alright. Well I thought you would have done that earlier, I suppose Gerald didn’t tell you. Oh well, let’s blame him for that shall we?” She broke into some sort of laugh that seemed almost a little too forced like a bad actress. 

Melissa returned a much more anxious one. “Alright, yes ma’am. I’ll be back in an hour.” She didn’t know who Gerald was, but she felt bad he was getting the blame. 

It felt much nicer to be back in her own car though, and she was quite anticipating the day to be over already. She didn’t like standing up all day, it made her slightly lightheaded. 

“Ah! Are things going well so far?” Mr Davidson asked when she finally got him on the phone. She had to call his cell, since she supposed no one was answering the work phone too diligently right now. 

“Uh, yes sir,” she answered as she looped around the driveway. Much easier than reversing. “She’s not a serial killer I don’t think, so we’re good on that one.” Although that didn’t mean she wasn’t still worried. “But she’s uh, how do I put this?” Melissa and Mr Davidson had never shied away from gossiping about certain clients but she almost felt frightened to, like that woman was watching her somehow. “Entitled? I made lunch for her kids. I don’t think that’s what I came here to do.” 

Mr Davidson laughed. “Keeping you busy huh? Are you behaving.”

“Yes dad,” she quipped. “Well, I just thought I was going to help explain things. I was unpacking some boxes for her and she said she’d join me so I could show her everything but she never showed up so I suppose we’ll do it after my break.” 

“Maybe she’ll need you another day.” Melissa hoped not. But on the bright side it was nice to mix things up a little bit. And hey, especially when the person she was working for was rich. Maybe she’d get a nice tip at the end of all this. 

———————————————————

She was halfway through her lunch when she got the phone call. She figured she would just eat at her own place since it wasn’t too far away and much cheaper anyways. It was Linda, which was odd, because she was still on her break. 

“Hello ma’am! Do you need a hand with anything?” She asked, putting her lunch down on her table. Maybe she just started on her own.

“Yes, Gerald tells me he didn’t send you the list! Where are you?” 

“Uh. Getting lunch,” she repeated, feeling her heart start to race. “What list?”

“The shopping list. How can you get lunch without the list, what are you doing? I’ll get him to send it to you now, how long until you’re back?” She asked, her tone suddenly a little demeaning. 

“Uh, yeah sure go ahead. I’ll be back in about... twenty?” Her break was almost over. 

“What have you been doing all this time then if you didn’t have the list!” She snapped.

Melissa shot upright in surprise, clearing her throat as to not risk a misunderstanding. “Taking my break, ma’am! To eat my own lunch,” she stated again for what had to have been the fifth time. “I was on my lunch break, you said that was okay!” She panicked. She knew she hadn’t misheard it!

Without much of a heads up though she burst into laughter so loud Melissa had to hold the phone away. “Oh! Well why didn’t you just say that then? I thought you were doing the shopping! Usually the workers just eat in the dining hall! I’ll get Gerald to send you the list you can grab everything on your way back around and I’ll have something for you when you get home. Be quick!” And with a sharp beep she hung up. 

“Yikes.” She stared at her cat, who was sitting in one of the kitchen chairs. “Hear that, kitten? Oh man, I would’ve stayed in the primordial soup if I knew there’d be days like this.” 

Grocery shopping wasn’t really on her schedule today, but she certainly had the time and it wasn’t really a bother as much as it was a surprise she told herself. 

The grocery list she was eventually sent was long, to be generous. How many people was Linda feeding? Melissa hadn’t been there long enough to tell. She didn’t really want to end up eating in the dining hall, that was just code for a break room where you don't talk. 

As rudely as she had been ordered to do the shopping and as much as Melissa hated the rich she was logical enough to like money. She liked being able to buy her own groceries, and if that meant hauling an almost ridiculously full shopping trolley around for the chance she might get tipped - she was probably going to take it. 

Well. at least she was feeding people well it seemed. Rather lavishly too. They were all adding up into a rather big three digit number Melissa was simply pretending not to see. She sure hoped Linda intended to pay her back for this but it was hard to tell what sort of a person their client was. 

She seemed like she could turn cold on the turn of a dime and then she would pretend it never happened afterwards.   
Melissa was sensitive though, clients who so much as looked at her in the wrong way could ruin her day. 

“Ugh,” Melissa let out an audible complaint as she packed the bags into the back of her car. One, because this was definitely not a ‘one trip’ kinda grocery shop, and two, because that sort of sounded like gaslighting to her. 

Maybe she was getting too ahead of herself, it was only one day anyways. 

She didn’t linger for too long in her car considering she was actually supposed to have been back about five minutes ago, and she didn’t want to get in trouble.

She got out of her car, receipt tight in hand and she psyched herself up to grab as many groceries as humanly possible. 

“Oh Mackenzie!” Came Linda’s call as she heaved the bags inside. 

“Melissa,” she corrected her.

“No, Linda. It’s Linda. I thought you would’ve heard the name somewhere before, do you not recognise it? Monroe?” She squinted, hand pressed to her chest like she was taking personal offence to it. 

Melissa hoped she wasn’t about to turn hostile now of all times while she had seven bags in her hands.

“Oh well, Mackenzie. Take those to the kitchen and unpack them, I have some good news, you can come and find me.”

She just hurried past her to the kitchen, not really in the right mind to correct her while it felt like her arms were about to be torn off. She just swept past her to drop the bags off on the kitchen floor. Wow. She was this rich and she didn’t have a trolley or something to help with the bags? 

It was on Melissa’s third trip that she decided her arms just hurt too much, but this was gonna be one hell of a work out on the bright side. The girls were going to be very impressed by her swing at softball practice this weekend. 

“Uh, excuse me, Linda!” She spoke up as she heard the already familiar click of heels passing by the kitchen. 

The woman peered briefly into the kitchen but didn’t quite cross the threshold as if she wouldn’t dare step into the working area. She took her phone away from her ear to stare.

“Uh, here’s the receipt,” she held it forward a little shyly. Usually she didn’t like to ask for money, she wouldn’t even mention if a pay cheque was late but this amount of money made her feel like a chunk of herself had gone missing alongside the nine hundred dollars she had just spent and she would quite like to have it back. “Uh, there’s still a bunch of stuff out in my car but I was wondering if there was anyone who could give me a hand with that? I’m Uh, from CCRP you know. I should probably get back to helping you with your order.” All she had done today was a bunch of unpacking. 

Linda blinked, phone still clutched to her chest like this was news. “Oh yes. That reminds me, I’ve just been on the phone with that man- Ken?”

“Mr Davidson, yes,” she gulped. Was she about to be fired from a job she didn’t even have? Over the lunch misunderstanding? Or the being five minutes late? Ah, she shouldn’t have spent that time thinking. 

“Well he figured it might be best for you to come back again tomorrow to help. You’ve been such a dear already.”

“Oh,” Melissa clutched on to the marble island bench. “Another day? He said that?” The snitch. Last time she’ll gossip with him. She didn’t take him as the type to put his employees through distress for monetary gain, but maybe he thought it was a joke. Hah. She’ll see who’s laughing when the office catches fire without its own assistant. She hoped he was enjoying doing his own tasks.

“Yes. Is there a problem with that?” She tilted her head, a little dramatic, but okay. “Well I’ll still need help and you’ve already done so great today. We just don’t have the time to get through everything! How about we start tomorrow morning?” 

Maybe she shouldn’t have asked her to go grocery shopping then, or make her son’s lunch. “Ah, okay.” She still thought there was enough time in the day to get through it.

“Oh wonderful, your room is on the second floor second door to the right, that’s great Melody.”

“Melissa, wait huh? My room?” 

“Yes?” She asked incredulously. “We want an early start so we can let you get back to your other tasks. What’s the matter?” 

She gestured over her shoulder. “I have my own apartment you know. It’s like ten minutes away. I appreciate the offer but I’d prefer to stay in my own-“

“You’ll be fine. You’ll stay here while you’re working for me just like the rest of the staff. I’ll have someone prepare your room and bring the rest of the shopping in and we’ll get an early start tomorrow hm? Dinner is at seven in the hall.” And then she strode off. 

Melissa blinked. Was this a hostage situation? What if she walked out right now? She could, perhaps she would, but she did want to see her room. 

It frustrated her that Linda had just walked off though, didn’t even hear her argument. But with no other tasks assigned to her for the rest of the day she cautiously snuck up the grand staircase in the entrance hall, gliding her hand up the mahogany handrail. The balusters were carved into ornate shapes Melissa kind of wanted to touch but she wasn’t trying to be obvious.

She followed the directions as she was told, trying the doorknob curiously. It didn’t creak or complain as she opened it.

“Oooh.” She didn’t have a good feeling about this. It was fancy, a little too fancy. Satin sheets, stacks of pillows. A writing desk by the window with an overlook out into the garden. A bookshelf with books on it. Wow. A closet too, and upon further inspection there were pyjamas and a work uniform inside, and in the en-suite there was just about everything she would need too. 

She got down on her knees to take a look at the bookshelf. The standard she supposed, nothing she would read unless she had to. The sort of things students would read in literature or those big titles people’s mothers would speak about. 

She pulled out The Yellow Wallpaper, one she had never actually read but had heard the author was on something wild when she wrote it. 

She wasn’t staying, she told herself, even if this kinda was like a five star hotel. She hadn’t prepared herself to take a holiday! She wanted to stay in her own bed tonight she told herself as she flicked through the pages trying to get a sense of the plot. She had a cat to feed, and she always struggled to sleep in any bed but her own. 

She sat herself down at the writing desk instead of the bed so she didn’t get too comfy, she just wanted to read the blurb.   
She tried to open up the window too just to breathe in the fresh autumn air, but the window didn’t open. Even after a bit of fiddling with the lock it didn’t slide or push open or anything. Oh well, the room had to have some sort of flaw. 

It didn’t matter though because she wasn’t staying here, she was just building up the courage to go find Linda, procrastinating with a little bit of reading, so the good cancelled out the bad. 

It’s not like she could waste much time anyways, the book was only thirty eight pages and surprisingly interesting - mostly because it was kind of messed up though. She’d just finish it off and then go tell Linda she was going home. Maybe even stay around for dinner if it was good, hell, it smelled great. It must’ve been some sort of chicken curry perhaps. Ugh. She couldn’t stay for dinner though if she wasn’t sleeping over. Although she kind of deserved it after Linda got her free work hours out of her. 

Wait- dinner was cooking? She sat up right in her- no, the chair, staring out the window. It was already dark out! She checked her phone, quarter to seven. Damn, dinner time was now. 

She got up, tucking the book back into its spot like she was never there and hurried down the staircase as lightly as she could as to not make a ruckus on her way out. 

She tried the front doors only to find they weren’t opening. Without trying to rattle them she pushed again, and then pulled, preparing to laugh at her silly mistake when she realised that didn’t work either. 

She could feel her skin flushing and her hands getting quite sweaty all of a sudden. 

Someone was going to come and see her struggling and laugh at her, she was sure.

“Where are you headed Maggie?”

“Melissa,” she spun around at that voice which she had quickly learnt to dread. “I just thought I’d go back to my own place, and if you wanted me over early I’ll just wake up early,” she stammered. “I’d be more comfortable in my-“

“Dinner is ready in the staff hall why don’t you go meet everyone?” Linda spoke right over her. 

Melissa gulped as she leant against the locked doors. She really had no appetite all of a sudden. Nor did she want to meet anyone, that only solidified the fact she had given in. 

Instead she made a dash right back up the stairs, closing her door tight and huddling down on the other side of the bed by the wall. She whipped out her phone. For once she actually knew who to call, not like it would’ve have been her first reaction anyways. Doug.

“Doug, hello? I think I’ve been kidnapped,” she started off strong in the minor fear Doug would for some reason not be interested. 

“What? Excuse me?” They sounded just as shocked.

“Well, not really! But kinda! I’m doing some work for a client and she just told me to stay the night and I cannot leave!” She spluttered, keeping her eyes fixed on the door just in case someone burst in to catch her. 

“Are you safe? That sounds serious, where are you?” She could hear their keys rustling on the other end. 

“No, uh! Well! Not that kidnapped, like. It’s a fancy rich person house you know? Mrs Monroe, if you’ve heard of her! She has heaps of workers and heaps of rooms so I think she just thinks it’s normal! But the doors are locked and I tried to go home and she just told me to go get dinner!” She was probably talking too quickly, but her heart was thrashing up against her rib cage so loudly she could barely hear Doug. 

“Hey, hey Melissa? Are you okay? Do you want me to come and get you? I can take a squad car down right now,” they tried to promise her, attempting to get her attention over her first few whimpers. “I could make a scene- or not, whatever you want, do you want me to come get you?”

“Um.” She wanted to go home, but it’s not like she needed Doug to arrest Linda. “Well I don’t think it’d be very professional to be picked up,” she gulped. “You know?” 

“Melissa. I’m confused,” Doug stated. “Are you scared or not?” 

“Uh, I don’t know!” She admitted, cautiously sliding up onto the bed because the corner was not very cosy. “I think I just needed someone to know I was here. I’m sure it’s fine it’s just I feel a bit upset.”

“Either way, I don’t think it’s legal to be keeping you there against your will. Have you stated you want to go home?” They inquired, Melissa liked it when they got professional but it just felt kind of awkward now. 

“Sort of? I mean I wasn’t direct and she kinda spoke over me but I mean it’s um.   
It’s really fancy here you know,” she sniffled, tracing patterns on the linen bedsheets with her finger. “It was kinda weird. I was here for work and she made me do her shopping?”

“Did she pay you?” Melissa assumed this was how they interrogated people. 

“Well not yet,” she admitted in a rough and strained voice like it was her fault. “I think she was going to do it sometime soon though.” 

“Being a PA doesn’t mean you pay for people’s things, she can’t make you do that sort of thing on your own card, Melissa,” Doug tried to reiterate. “You don’t have to stay over night just because it’s fancy.”

She nodded, sinking back into the piles of pillows and placing her phone on her chest with a heavy sigh. “But it’s kind of really nice. It’s just Linda who scared me.”

“She scares you? Bunny, it sounds like a kidnapping to me. Come home,” Doug tried to persuade her. They kind of sounded like they were going to make it happen either way. “This is too short notice. What about our plans tomorrow?” They reminded her as they let out a loud sigh. “She can’t just take you, Melissa. You don’t have to be kind about it.” 

She winced. “Yeah, but I’m sure she’ll let me go back home tomorrow you know. We don’t have to cancel it yet! It’s not like I officially work for her.” Not that she really wanted to spend another day here, but if they were doing it early at least it would be out of the way.

“Melissa,” Doug started, an almost scolding tone to their voice. “You know what you would say if you weren’t in such a bad mood?” 

“Eat the rich I know!” Melissa groaned, tossing the blankets over her head and holding her phone tighter to her ear. “Can you just feed my cat for me tonight?”

“If you promise you’ll put your foot down if she tries to get you to stay another night. You aren’t her employee. You have your own apartment you know!” They sounded upset too. 

“I know that, you know that, Linda is wilfully ignoring that! But let’s not make a fuss out of it yet okay? Maybe she’ll just let me go home tomorrow, I don’t want to upset her,” she tried to reason to both Doug and herself. “And if she doesn’t then please come get me?”

Doug heaved a sigh, but it was also kind of a chuckle. “You’re confusing, Mel.” 

She nodded. She was confused too. “Goodnight, Doug.”

“Good night, Bunny. Please stay safe.”

———————————————————

Melissa was awoken abruptly from a bad dream by a thumping at her door that she raced to answer, not wanting to keep anyone waiting. 

She rubbed her eyes, squinting as she made her way to the door. Only being awake for less than a minute and without her glasses, she could barely make out let alone process whoever it was standing at her door, and totally overlooked the disgruntled expression on their face. 

“Breakfast is being served if you’d like to join us. You aren’t in your uniform,” they begun.

“What?” Melissa had understood it perfectly, but her brain wasn’t awake enough to reply at all. “Oh that’s for me?” She pointed at the closet. The pyjamas weren’t the right size so she didn’t think the suit would be either. And she wasn’t even going to open up the rabbit hole about why she was suddenly under orders to wear a uniform like all the others workers here. But considering she was yet to be allowed home she was grateful for a change of clothes. 

“Oh ugh, yeah,” she nodded. “I’ll be down in a second, thank you ma’am,” she nodded, shutting the door behind her and sinking down to the floor for a second. “Ugh,” she grunted as she lay down on her back. The clock on the writing desk read 8am, surely Linda wasn’t waking up this early. 

She pulled out the uniform hanging in the closet, kind of extra to provide one for her, maybe she had more workers than Melissa expected. As she pulled on the dark blazer though cogs did start to turn in her head. She would have to return this when she left surely, but it sort of felt like she was being marked.

She pulled up the long skirt, clipping it around her waist and noticing it was just a little too big. Fun. 

But it was by no means an ugly or cheap uniform if just a little dull, and when she hopped down the grand staircase towards the dining hall she actually felt quite fancy.

There were about fifteen people all up. Maids, chefs and who she assumes to be a nanny. She didn’t know where to sit or what to do but within ten seconds of standing at the door someone handed her a cup of coffee. “How’s it feel? Rough?”

She glanced at her cup, and then at her uniform. “No, they’re both fine. Why?”

“No, the fact you’re still here,” he laughed, and a couple of onlookers chuckled quietly too. It sounded sympathetic. 

She shrugged. “I would’ve preferred to stay at my own place but once I do this stuff from my own job I’ll be on my way out,” she let out a sigh of relief. 

“Aren’t you her new assistant?” The man asked. 

She blinked. “I’m only running a couple errands for her, I don’t really work for her,” she established. “I’ll be gone before the afternoon,” she said it out loud, part of her kind of wanted that confirmation after how abruptly she had been denied exit last night. 

“Oh yes,” the man nodded with a slight smile. “Well, oh I won’t say. Yes, what’s your name?”

“It’s Melissa. What won’t you say?”

“Figured. Mrs Monroe told me I should be looking out for a Miranda but, she’s not good with names. Here you are.” In her other hand, the man gave her a list. “It’s the jobs she needs you to run today. You don’t work for her officially right?”

“No.” Melissa took a sip of the surprisingly decent coffee, which was a lot considering she didn’t even like coffee. She glanced over the list and tried to hold down a groan. None of it was CCRP related except for a couple of tax statements she was being asked to look into. “What time will Linda be up?” She asked. She had a complaint to make.

“Well she was out late last night so I would say not for a while,” he seemed iffy about her calling Linda by her first name. “Just put your foot if you want to keep it that way okay? Mrs Monroe likes to get her way.”

“Her way? What’s that supposed to mean? I’ll be gone by noon anyways.”

He shook his head. “No. I think she might keep you around a bit longer with the looks of that list. If you wanna go home you’re best off getting fired,” he laughed. “I see she didn’t let you go home last night.”

“Yes and that was very rude!” She piped up. “But it’s not like she’s keeping me locked up, I’ll just leave after I get this stuff done she can’t keep me here,” she rolled her eyes, assuming Linda must’ve done this sort of thing before.

“Well you better be firm! She has a lot of jobs she’s expecting you to get done,” he gestured to the list again to hand over his own informing role to the piece of paper, trying to step away to carry on with his breakfast without her complaints.

“Well, you see I can’t-“ then she paused. There was something quite interesting on this list. “Sorry, are these all the instructions she left?” 

The man nodded. “Yes, the computer is in her study is on the third floor by the left of the library if you need to use the internet. Is everything okay?”

She nodded her head slowly up and down, backtracking out of the doorway, resigned to skip breakfast. “Yes sir, thank you very much,” she dipped her head before hurrying silently back up the stairs. 

Item number seven on Linda’s list: ‘it’s my niece’s birthday coming up next Wednesday, I need to transfer her some money as a gift.’

Funnily enough, Emma’s birthday was next Wednesday too. 

‘Her details are on my account under Emma Perkins,’ she continued. ‘And you can pay yourself back for the shopping trip if you leave the receipt in the book on the desk.’

And just as she had thought, that was her Emma. 

It wasn’t really a CCRP job, but it wasn’t not a PA job, and it certainly involved her. But the rest of her tasks could wait until Linda could give them to her real PA. 

“Huh,” she inclined her head thoughtfully, she wouldn’t have thought Linda and Emma were related, but then again Emma never spoke about her family much outside of the fact that they were pretty horrible - most of them anyways. 

And well, Linda wasn’t completely horrible she was sure, although it was difficult to make a judgement when she was always off somewhere else. But she trusted Emma, and Linda had technically kidnapped her, so she should probably keep an eye out.

Melissa pulled out the computer chair, sinking into the office chair. It was plush and a bit luxurious too, and the writing desk was much better furnished than the one in her room. 

She read the password off the note she was given, sleepily getting the banking set up. 

“Oh gosh.” That was a big number, a lot of digits, Melissa couldn’t even pronounce it. “That’s like a billion dollars,” and that made a lot of sense. 

Oh to be trusted with the evil aunts bank account. She could probably get some really cool points in with Emma.

If only Melissa’s partner wasn’t a cop. Otherwise, this would be too fun. 

“Oh, oh my god!” She tapped herself on the head to shake away those thoughts. It’s not like she was going to commit a crime! Maybe she just had a bit too much pent up rage about last nights incident. “Don’t be weird,” she scolded herself, reading the rest of the instructions. 

‘it’s my niece’s birthday coming up next Wednesday, I need to transfer her some money as a gift. Her details are on my account under Emma Perkins,’ that was all the paper said. 

“How much do you expect me to transfer her?” She sighed, staring at the paper for a second to give herself a better chance at waking up. She probably could’ve fallen asleep in that office chair if she stayed there long enough. “There’s nothing here, Linda,” she turned the paper back and forth, reading it again word by word. Nothing frustrated her more than a job without instructions. 

She put it down, double clicking on Emma’s contact with a groan. It was nice to have some familiarity in this strange place, it almost made her excited to see her friend’s name up on the screen like that. 

She wished she was with her friends at her normal job right now, not sitting in Linda’s dark and silent office at half past eight in the morning. If Mr Davidson has given her this task and hadn’t specified she would just ask him, but Linda was still asleep. How could she get this done before Linda woke up? 

She hadn’t made it clear how much she was supposed to give! 

Oh. 

She hadn’t made it clear, meaning technically...

“Oooh,” she cooed to herself, tapping a finger to the list with her eyes still on the screen. “No, no,” she laughed to herself. “Well she can’t get you in trouble if ya think about it,” she started her own commentary, it was easier to think that way. “She’s rich. Not like she’ll miss it, right?” 

She was laughing at herself as she added another couple zeros to the transfer. 

“Oh Melissa, you wouldn’t, but I will. I wouldn’t but I will, I won’t... but I will.”   
And with that, she hit send.  
———————————————————

“Did you hear Melissa isn’t in again today?” Bill announced as he entered the office at ten past nine that morning.

Paul nodded. “Yeah, I had to copy all my own papers yesterday. Where’s she off to again?”

“Mr Davidson told me that she’s running errands for a client,” Charlotte filled in. “Apparently they were on a call yesterday, I heard it from the break room. A Mrs Monroe I think.”

That name tugged on a thread in Paul’s head. “Hey, that’s Emma’s aunt I think!” He perked up a little knowing she wasn’t off with a complete stranger. “God, I bet she’s having fun.” He had seen her manor once. It was huge, Emma had gagged when they drove past it though. Linda wasn’t a nice person, he had heard. A little bit stuck up, a little bit full of herself, and very, very vain.

“Well it’s not that I don’t love her enthusiasm but it’s nice to have some peace and quiet around the office,” Bill confessed with a sleepy smile. 

Paul laughed. It wasn’t something he had picked up on himself but they had worked peacefully through lunch yesterday without Melissa joining them on her break and dragging Ted along with her. 

“Well, maybe she’ll get along with Mrs Monroe,” Bill suggested. “All the older clients love her. She’s just got that spirit.”

Paul shook his head. Not Linda. Linda and Emma did not get along, and despite how mean Emma could be sometimes - deep down she was a people pleaser. She did try and make an effort with what little family she had and yet she still cut Linda out of her life with a million bad and valid stories about why. 

That did make him worry for her a little bit. 

Paul pulled out his phone, but was quickly relieved to see that he had quite a few excited texts from her all of a sudden, having only received them a few moments ago. 

The first was a photo, sent at surprisingly eight in the morning. He rubbed his eyes just thinking about it. 

‘LOOK AT THIS COOL ASS SUIT’ the text read, with an accompanying photo of Melissa in the uniform, standing in front of the mirror with her chest puffed out and her stance wide like she was ready to fight someone. Well, she was having enough fun to get by it seemed. 

However sent a couple minutes later was a more formal text. ‘Hey Paul, just asking a quick question. In the scheme of your relationship you did get Emma to notice you through tipping right?’ 

He gulped at that question. Both Melissa and Emma already being occupied in relationships made that a very weird question. ‘Yes? What’s up?’

‘Oh cool! Just asking.’

Followed shortly by ‘watch this.’ 

He waited. He was expecting perhaps a photo to come through or a video or something considering how much time it was taking, and even followed up after five minutes with some question marks, forgetting it for a moment in lieu of getting back to his work.

And that’s when his phone went off. 

A text from Emma.

‘Melissa just sent me a thousand dollars UH????’ 

Paul fumbled for his phone as he tore out of the room to the hallway, his fingers mashing angrily at his screen to try and get Melissa’s number up as fast as he could. “Hello!?”

“Hey, Paul. Get my gift?” She asked, seeming all too excited. 

“Are you literally trying to steal my girlfriend? What’s going on I don’t get it!? What’s the money about!” He didn’t want to raise his voice too high at work but this was just uncalled for! 

“Oh. It’s from Linda actually, I just thought I’d take the points for it for a moment but do let Emma know,” she chuckled. “I swear I wasn’t gonna keep that in the dark. You just get a little power hungry when your new boss gives you access to her bank account. Evil rich people are dumb.”

“And she told you to send a thousand to Emma?” He tried to clarify.

“Mmm. No. She told me to send her ‘some money.’ But she has two kitchens so I figured she couldn’t miss it too much. That’s how much she spends on grocery shopping.”

“I take it you aren’t liking Linda but is that legal?” 

She clicked her tongue. “Hey, the woman didn’t specify anything! I just made the judgement myself, I don’t think she’ll check. But hey, if you want to send some of that money my way I’ll happily take it!”

“I think that’s actually theft, Mel. Embezzlement?” 

“Hey. Don’t tell Doug. I live up to my words when I say eat the rich! She won’t notice a couple bucks missing! I hear she’s in a boating club!”

“President,” Paul corrected her. “Of the boating society. Not America. But you shouldn’t have done that Melissa, you’ll get in big trouble if you’re caught,” he warned her cautiously. That could probably be booked as a proper crime.

“It’s basically charity, Paul! It was a birthday gift!” She exclaimed rather jovially. He hoped she was ready to take the blow for it. “Plus uh. She kinda did something to me last night and she isn’t paying me I don’t think.”

“Huh? Mr Davidson is though right? What did she do to you?”

“Well I’ve been working since eight this morning, and I ran an errand for her at about six yesterday and Mr Davidson isn’t paying me for that.” Some nerves were creeping through her words now. “Look,   
don’t panic Paul, but like she locked me in last night and I spent the night here in like a guest room or something. So I think this is a just revenge for my kidnapping and unpaid labour. And it’s all going to Emma so this isn’t even about me!”

“Ooh man there are- okay, okay, okay. There are so many things wrong with that. She kidnapped you? And instead of calling for help you just committed embezzlement?” 

“I’m so concerned if you feel sympathy for the rich. No one needs that much money. Paul. She has a custom statue in her hallway, it isn’t even a centre piece it’s just there! What’s the point!”

“God. That’s a lot. Are you doing okay there though? Is Linda alright?”

“Oh. As long as I can exact a bit of petty vengeance I’ll handle it. I mean I could spend one more day here if all I have to do is groceries. Free food, no rent. It’s not all that awful. What could go wrong?” 

Paul would beg to differ, and when his coffee break rolled around Emma seemed sceptical too. 

“She’s with Linda? Monroe?”

“Unless you know any other Linda Monroe’s,” Paul nodded. “I feel bad for her.” 

She hadn’t even started making his coffee, she was just staring at him unblinkingly. “How long has she been there for?” 

“Two days. She says Linda didn’t let her go home yesterday which I think is practically a-“

“Basic Linda move,” Emma cut in. “Yeah. That’s what I hate about my aunt so much. If she wants something she just takes it, like they aren’t even people. I moved in with her super, super briefly at her invite when I came back from Guatemala, just for a place to stay you know while I worked shit out with my dad, I wanted to see if he had mellowed out any since I moved out and all. But then I tried moving out?” She paused, giving a deep chuckle ripe with concern as she picked up the pitcher. “That’s why I had to cut her out you know? Because it was all ‘I’ve always wanted a daughter’ one moment and then ‘Emma your room is a mess! Why can’t you be like Jane?’ The next!” She rolled her eyes, finally getting on with the coffee.

“Hahah,” Paul didn’t like that. “So what, she’s just gonna get Melissa to quit CCRP? Who knows. Maybe it’s nicer over there with the money and all,” he checked his watch. Emma should probably pick it up with the coffees a little if he wanted to make it back in time - the coffee run responsibilities were his now, considering they had no PA.

“Oh I dunno. Linda is hard to understand. I had tried to just walk out one day you know, and she was like ‘oh no, come eat lunch with us first!’” She put on a dramatic voice to differentiate between her roles. “And so I did, caus free food you know? But then next time it was ‘oh you can leave after we finish dinner’ and it just never seemed to end! Yeah, I had to get my dad of all people to come collect me,” she rolled her eyes. “And they had a screaming match in the front yard so I just kinda slipped out. She’s clingy for a woman who’s never around!” She joked.

“Oh. Sorry about the thing with your dad.” Emma shrugged it off, batting away the hand he had extended to offer her some sympathy. 

“It’s not a big deal. It was a couple years back. Sounds like she’s already taken a liking to Melissa now though,” she switched topics. “Ah, hey. Oh well. I’m sure she wouldn’t really kidnap someone to keep them there though. That’s pretty illegal, even for Linda. I’ll ring her on my break.”

Paul’s worries were replaced the second Emma handed over his hot cup of coffee though, taking that bitter first sip. “Hey, how’s work?” he didn’t want to waste his time worrying about it. She was probably fine, anyways.

———————————————————

“Marilyn, I’m going to the boating society will you watch my boys? They won’t be any trouble at all.” Linda was basically walking out the door when she threw the command over her shoulder. 

“Oh, weren’t we supposed to do the CCRP stuff today?” This is perhaps what the man had meant when it came to putting her foot down. “And it’s Melissa.” She was keeping a running tally now. 

“Oh yes but I am the president of the society so I can’t miss this unfortunately dear. The kids are sweethearts they’ll be in the playroom. Be a dear for me will you? Their new caregiver called in sick today, god knows why. Probably out partying all night. I don’t trust the younger ones. And of course Gerald is no help, as per usual!” 

Melissa figured she shouldn’t disclose her age right about now. However if she was so fussed about trust it was quite awful to see her not asking Melissa for any sort of qualification. “Ma’am, I’m not really an expert in baby sitting,” she admitted.

“Oh no they’re angels, Magnolia. The eldest is fourteen he’ll manage it all just keep your eye on them.”

“Melissa.” Magnolia was interesting though. She didn’t get why Melissa was so hard. That was two tallies now anyways.

“No, his name is River, he’s a boy. Now please don’t keep them waiting I’ll be back in an hour or two.”

“Or two? Ma’am,” she wasn’t one for arguing or talking back, but she didn’t sign up for this. “I do have responsibilities to get back to back at CCRP,” she pressed. “I’m not a babysitter.”

“Alright, no longer than two. We’ll get right back to it don’t throw a tantrum. Good bye,” her tone was slightly condescending. Not enough to warrant her talking back, but enough to make her angry. She gave a rather elegant wave, the long jumper she was wearing sweeping out behind her like a cloak as she vanished out the front door. 

“Hmmm.” She blinked, staring at the door where Linda once stood before she had vanished out into the real world. It had only been one day, but Melissa missed the real world - more so her own apartment she supposed, but the real world none the less. 

Well, she didn’t suppose she could just leave the kids unsupervised now could she? Not that that had a single thing to do with how badly she wanted to explore the house anyways. She had only seen half the first floor and the staff dorm area, she was probably just a little too curious to go explore the realms of Linda Monroe.

The nursery was on the third floor, and more just resembled the downstairs living room with a few extra toys laying about and some consoles by the flat screen TV for good measure.

“Ooh,” she awed. All the new games, and just about every console in the past decade was set up neatly on the shelf. 

That’s when she saw the four boys, all quite content watching whatever they were watching on the TV but in a rather scary movement their heads all swivelled around to face Melissa at once where she stood in the doorway. 

“Uh, hey,” she made eye contact with the boy she had seen yesterday. The four boys looked almost scarily identical, no wonder Linda was bad with names. “Your mom sent me up to keep an eye on you. Do you guys need anything or...?”

“I’m fourteen,” presumably River was staring at her with very cold eyes. “Mom left me in charge because I’m the oldest, so we don’t need you to watch us.”

“Oh, okay,” she nodded her head up and down, pursing her lips shut and clinging to the door frame. “You’re just watching a movie huh?” 

“Mhm.” 

“Oh. Cool. Uh. So?” She pointed over her shoulder, perhaps content to just wait out in the halls and linger around what other rooms were available. She had passed a sitting room on the way here and oh boy did she want to sit right about now. 

“If you’re supposed to look after us that means you have to do what we say right?” Asked the boy in the middle of the couch all of a sudden. 

”wow, the apple does not fall far from the tree,” she murmured to herself below her breath, dumbfounded. “No. Other way around I think.”

“Well we’re hungry can you make us lunch, lady?” 

“Oh, of course.” Sure. She didn’t wanna babysit but she wasn’t going to be neglectful. “Yes. I’m sure I can get you something to eat. Can you behave while I’m downstairs?” 

No one gave much of a reply except a half hearted ‘hm’ from the boy at the end of the couch, who probably had just said it to get her off their backs. 

Whatever. She’d prefer to go fix something up in the kitchen rather than hang around the playroom with the kids. 

She had seen a chef this morning so surely there was someone who she could pass on the orders to.

“Hello, sir,” she greeted the man she found in the kitchen. “Are you the chef?” 

He frowned. “No, I’m Gerald. Who are you?” 

She bit down on her tongue. “I’m Melissa. I’m here from CCRP, I was sent to help out with the orders yesterday,” she informed him. From brief whispers she had heard and some subtext from Linda, she figured this must be the husband, or at least someone up there on the food chain. “I’m looking for the chef because the children wanted something to eat and no one was helping them,” she explained with a scolding tone to her voice. He was their father after all. 

“Oh, you’re the new personal assistant?” He inquired rather curiously. “Melody?” 

“It’s-!” She stopped herself before she could yell. Melody was kind of a good name. “No sir. I’m not her personal assistant. But she’s told me to look after the children and it’s not in my best interest to leave them unattended at such a young age. Isn’t there a caregiver here?” 

“Oh. Well she told me you could handle that, Melody.” The man was wringing his hands, his veins were prominent and his skin was slightly wrinkled, he looked a little older than Linda. “Is that not it? Oh, I can’t believe she’s done this again.” 

“Done what again?” She didn’t want to be in a cycle. 

“Well she always just keeps people put and expects them to stay because they have a room and someone to make food for them. She just forgets people live their lives!” He laughed like he was almost brushing it off now, like this was a child ‘just borrowing’ a friend’s toy. And she did not want to be the toy. “Oh, how silly of her. She always does this, but she only fired her old PA last week! She’s very quick like that.”

“I’m a PA for a different company sir, I don’t really intend to stay another day. Linda and I are getting through my business when she gets home and then I’ll be right out of your way.” She passed by him to open the cupboards, uncomfortable with his eyes that followed her across the room like that was unheard of. 

“Well Linda doesn’t like giving things back unfortunately,” he spoke like he was reading out her death sentence. “I’d really have to put your foot down if I were you. Linda is in charge of the house, you see.”

She fished a couple of snack boxes from the cupboards for the kids, not wanting to hang around this old man for much longer. “Yes sir well I will be, I’m just looking after your children first,” she clutched the boxes to her chest. “Thank you for the heads up, Mister Monroe. I’ll be on my way now. I do not work for your wife, I’m fairly sure she knows that.”

This was the second warning she had received. As she hopped back up the stair case she shifted her snacks to one hand to pull out her phone from her pocket, shooting Doug a quick text. 

‘Yeah I highkey think this is a kidnapping   
:(( it’s okay tho I am gonna breakout’ 

‘Are you in danger Melissa?’ Doug replied quite quickly.

‘Fast response for someone on the clock go do ur job and I’ll do mine - crime >:))’ 

‘Bad idea. Don’t you just want me to swing by and sort this out?’ 

‘Nooo I don’t wanna take u off the job lemme handle this myself!’  
‘I’m doing What Must Be Done. Talk in a bit Doug I have babies to sit.’ 

She tucked her phone back into the deep pockets of the skirt, not really wanting anything valuable of hers out around the children. 

“Here you go,” she set the boxes down on the table. “Do you know when your mother will be back?”

“You’re in the way of the tv,” one of the children snapped, and she quickly moved out of the way because there was no point in being an asshole about it. “Is this lunch?”

“Yes,” she stated, widening her stance and holding her hands behind her back in the foggiest memory of what ‘at ease’ was in the military. She hoped it would be intimidating. 

“I can’t eat that, I don’t like it. I’m going to starve,” one of the boys complained.

“You aren’t going to starve, don’t be silly. Why can’t you eat that?” She asked the boy. 

“At lunch time the chef always makes me my special meal.”

“Well it isn’t lunch time yet,” she informed them, pointing at the clock. “See, the big hand is only at eleven. You’ll have to wait an hour or two for lunch.” 

But the other three boys were ripping into the snack boxes at a concerning rate that perhaps implied these snacks were not usually for the kids. And he was sitting there waiting, hungry. “I want to eat now.”

“Oh, hey, don’t cry,” she frowned. “Well what would you like to eat?” She asked, creeping in to come sit on the couch besides the youngest boy. 

“I want my special meal,” he pressed. “The way the chef makes it.”

“Well do you wanna come downstairs with me and ask if he can make it now?” She held out a hand to offer her escort. 

“No!” He slapped her hand away to her surprise. “The chef brings it here so go ask him!” 

“Gosh, okay!” She didn’t even know where the chef was! “Well let’s wait to hear from the chef okay?” She pressed a hand to her head, trying to stop any sort of headache before one could begin. “Is that alright?”

“Only if I can try on your glasses,” the boy seemed to bargain, reaching up to take them right off her face. 

“Ohh, okay there we go,” she clicked her tongue, trying to keep her focus on her glasses while they were in the boy’s hand. 

“My brother has glasses too,” he reported as he got his little grubby child fingers all over the lenses. 

“Yeah I saw,” she nodded. “I think those are a big to big for your head, kiddo. How about you hand them back?” 

“They aren’t too big for my head,” he declared. Which was a far shot considering they were almost a little too big for hers. And he definitely had a tinier head, being a baby and all. “How many fingers am I holding up?” He asked, shoving his hands up into her face.

She squinted, but only because he was way too close. “Three, I can see them you know.”

“Then what do you need glasses for? These just make my eyes worse,” he groused. 

“Well, that’s because they’re made for my eyes,” she explained slowly. “I’m near sighted, so I can still see your hands when they’re right here,” she lightly guided his hand away from her face. “But I maybe wouldn’t be able to tell as easily if you were across the other side of the room so I have to wear glasses.”

“I think you look prettier without them,” boy three chimed in. 

She nodded, pursing her lips in. “Thanks, buddy. But unfortunately I will have to keep wearing them so I hope that’s not an eyesore,” she tried to take her glasses back but the child stood up to run to the other side of the room. “Hey!”

“How many fingers am I holding up now?” He asked. 

She squinted. “Still three!” 

“Then you can see!” 

“Yes but not very clearly!” She tried to justify herself. “So l’ll need them back now please!” She marched forward and he circled around the couch with an excited squeal. She groaned. “I’m not going to chase you, please hand them back.” 

The other three boys had turned around on the couch to watch, letting out a whoop of excitement, one of them had started to bounce. 

“No, hand them back. I can’t see very well without them and I need them back!” If she couldn’t put her foot down now with the children how would she with Linda? “If you hand them back we can play a different game,” she offered, disappointed she still had to compromise on her vision. 

“Oh, you’re not as fun as the last lady!” River scoffed like she had just let him down, and in some unspoken language he nodded his head and the youngest boy and he returned the glasses to her, covered in the smudges of his fingerprints. 

“Thank you, buddy. That’s very well behaved of you,” she praised him half heartedly, unbuttoning the bottom button of her vest to wipe them down on her undershirt since her new blazer wasn’t the right material. She slipped them back onto her face, only a little bit dejected but mostly relieved everything was so clear again. “Oh look at that,” she let out a heavy sigh. “You’ve got toys on the floor. How about we clean them up?” 

“That’s the cleaners job,” boy two, the one with the glasses didn’t even humour that. “You do it.”

“We’re gonna play games now okay? Stop bothering us,” River added, ordering his younger brother up to go plug the consoles in. 

“Well...” she wasn’t a baby sitter, but she couldn’t leave the children unattended. And she wasn’t a cleaner, but she could absolutely not leave a set of perfectly sweet plushes on the ground to get dirty!   
She scooped them up, cradling them in her hands. “Where do these belong?” She asked them. 

“We dunno. The cleaner puts them away,” the youngest brother shrugged. “Hey you’re an adult right?”

“Yes I am. Why?” For some reason she thought they’d ask her to buy them drinks or something. She couldn’t possibly imagine why age would matter here. 

“Oh. So you don’t understand video games then,” he decided.

“You can be an adult and still play video games,” she informed them rather helpfully. “What game are you playing?” 

“I don’t think you’d know it.”

Gosh. Usually she was on the other end of the generational divide in the office, maybe it had been too long since she had been around children. “Yeah? What is it?” She placed the dog plush she had collected from the floor on the head of the couch so he could watch the TV. 

“Overwatch. It’s kind of underground. All the kids play Fortnite these days but we don’t play free games,” River gave a smug huff. “I’m the best at it.”

“He is,” boy two said.

“Yeah,” boy three confirmed.

“He only loses when the others cheat,” the youngest chimed in rather joyfully until River shot him a glare. 

“Oh, I know Overwatch,” she rolled her head back. “I think you’re maybe a little young for that. There’s no need to be playing violent online games at your age, some people are really scary!” She tried to advise, but they all ignored her. Oh well. Not her children 

“Hey can you leave now?” River asked, casting a grimace over his shoulder and then back at the food she had brought. “Do you need us for anything else?”

“You’re really annoying leaning over my shoulder like that,” glasses boy said, pushing the dog she had propped up off the couch and back onto the floor.

She wasn’t leaning over his shoulder, she wasn’t even on his side of the couch! “I’m just doing what your mother asked me to do,” she scowled. “Why did you kick him off the couch?” She picked him back up.

“Sorry I hit him by mistake,” he growled like it was too annoying of a question. 

“No that wasn’t by mistake you did it on purpose!” She pointed out, cuddling the toy dog closer to her as if to ensure he wasn’t going to do it again.

“Pick it up it if bothers you!” He squirmed in his seat like her voice was a great bother. “Since you seem to like kids toys so much!” 

She settled the plushes down on the table behind the couch. “Hey, I did pick him up but you can’t just knock things over. It’s not very kind!” She scolded over her shoulder. 

“You can’t tell me what to do.”

“I can if I’ve been left in charge!” She countered. “Because I am in charge!”

“You can’t tell me what to do!” He repeated, just louder like it changed anything. “Do you want me to hit you? You’re asking for it!” 

“That was unnecessarily mean! We don’t threaten to hit each other, you can’t do that, it’s not right,” she snapped. “I will tell your mother about this!”

“Are you gonna cry about it?” River teased, and his three brothers laughed along. “Just go now!”

“Uh!” She stomped one of her feet, she was not going to be made the baby in a room full of actual children. “I’m not going to cry, I just think learning manners is very important and you all behave awfully!” She would ask who raised them, but the answer was a little too painfully true.

“Maybe we don’t want to be polite!” River jeered. 

“Yeah you’re just annoying, and your voice goes really high when you’re upset,” boy three pointed out quite brutally, and the other’s laughs all dropped right down so they could hear it change too. God, middle schoolers were a different brand of harsh. 

She bit down on her lip, trying to think of something to say, but she knew it she spoke now her voice would in fact be too high, and they were waiting like circling vultures. She breathed in a deep breath, feeling it fill up her lungs before exhaling.   
“Okay,” she wished it wasn’t obvious how hard she just dropped her voice. “Okay,” she turned on her heels, fishing around in her pocket for her phone.

Oh so Doug could answer texts in five seconds flat but not pick up the phone all of a sudden! Her chest was shockingly tight when she tried to splutter out a greeting as the dial tone ended and the crackling of the call began, but the words caught in her throat.

“Melissa are you okay?” Doug started like that was the new ‘hello.’ “Do you need me to collect you?”

“I’m being bullied,” she managed to grunt. “By four very annoying children!” She stomped her foot. “And I tried to get them in control and I couldn’t! They won’t listen! I hate it here!”

“Oh well hey, you aren’t a baby sitter don’t hold yourself up to it,” Doug suggested like they weren’t sure what other help to offer since Melissa wasn’t letting them bust down the doors just yet. “You could just walk out.”

“But who’ll watch the kids!” She exclaimed.

“She isn’t paying you!” Doug reminded her, “you haven’t checked in at work and you haven’t checked in there!”

Melissa gave a stressed groan as she realised they were right. She’d have to organise that with her boss now, which was another hassle to add to her list. “They’re kids!” 

“Are you still keeping an eye on them?”

“Well I’m supposed to be but they kicked me out! They were being so childish, and then they called me the child! Honestly, the nerve! And they were bullying me about it!” She rambled, trying not to wave her hands too much. “When it’s like, I’m the adult here! And then they told me I probably can’t play video games because I’m old! So am I the baby or the grandma here because they can’t make up their minds!” She wished she could’ve come up with that two minutes ago.

“Well then if you wanna prove that why don’t you handle it like an adult too?” Doug seemed a little prouder of their advice this time. “They’re children, they aren’t really all that kind.”

“Oh well of course I was going to handle it like an adult!” She stood there in the hallway, pursing her lips shut, silent. Doug was silent too. “Did you think I wasn’t?” She added.

“No, no, I didn’t say that! It’s just like, prove them wrong, right?” 

Melissa held the phone away from her ear for a moment. “Hm.” 

“I hope you’re going to make the right decision. Just please don’t kill a child because unfortunately I can’t let you off the hook for that one,” Doug breathed in through their teeth like they were pretending it was a hard decision to make. “Child murderers do have to go to jail, even if they’re pretty, sorry Melissa.”

“Oh I’m not gonna murder a child,” she rolled her eyes. “I mean, unless they want to keep up this bullying business! No. It’s fine. No. Shut up,” she tried to get herself back on track. “Yes, no Doug I’m not gonna murder a child but I am about to do something really cool.” 

“Haha yeah Bunny? You’re going to impress them into being kind?” Doug tried to guess. 

“No I’m going to impress them into regretting being mean to me,” she corrected quite hastily, crossing one arm across her chest. “Stop talking to me you’re supposed to be working a shift,” Melissa chided like she hadn’t called first. 

“Hey, well you’re the ones who’s been stressed. You’re on the clock too I was worried something serious was happening!” 

“There are no clocks when you’re kidnapped, it’s like a maritime law thing. Who says I was crying? I wasn’t crying Doug!” She bit back, waiting for a reply. “I wasn’t!” 

“I never said you were crying but if the shoe fits,” Doug snorted. “You’ll be back at your place tonight right?” 

Melissa nodded. She wasn’t letting Mrs Linda Monroe keep her for another day. She didn’t work for her! She couldn’t believe Mr Davidson was okay with this! Who was looking after everything at her desk? “Yes, yes of course I will be! Mark my words!” 

“Consider them marked, then, Bunny. I expect to see you at my place for dinner then tonight,” Doug almost seems to order. Probably for her own good at this rate.

“Oooh really!” Melissa gasped, standing up on the tips of her toes to stretch her back. “Yes! See you tonight then! Now, I’ve got children to beat!”

“What!?” They could almost hear Doug ready to turn on the sirens.

“Oh my god,” Melissa gaped, grapping her throat. “Hypothetically! I- It’s so hard to explain. I’m not beating children. Look. I swear. I’ll explain it tonight!”

“You better come home!” Doug’s voice was quite firm.

“Promise!” She nodded obediently. “Good bye Doug go arrest a criminal or something! Stop talking on the job, jeez, you’re holding me back! Love you!”

“Okay. Sure I am, so sorry about that hun. You go.” 

“Say you love me back please I need the extra strength.”

“Uh. It was supposed to be a given. Sorry.”

“Yes okay I know stop distracting me!” She warned, “I love you goodbye!” She had children to go compete against, that’s what she should’ve said she thought as she hid her phone back in her pocket.

She took in a deep breath. Time to handle it like an adult, she told herself as she marched back in, swinging the door open.

“Did you bring me my lunch?” The youngest boy asked. 

“No, because I’m not your maid and I’m not your chef and I’m not your babysitter!”

“You said you were,” River didn’t even take his eyes off the screen. “You’re wearing the worker uniform.”

“Okay. Well you’re literally only fourteen so you just don’t know what you’re talking about!” She pointed an angry finger at River. “Also, I know what video games are okay, I’m not that old!”

“Sure. Okay,” the four of them turned their attention back to the screen, quite taken by all the characters jumping about on the screen. “Can you go?” 

“No!” She announced. “I bet I could beat you at that game, you know.” They were like fourteen, and she knew her way around a shooter game. “Or are you too scared to challenge me?” 

“Ugh. They’re our remotes,” River denied. “You can’t play. You’ll just ruin the fun. It’s a boy’s thing.” 

“Oh video games aren’t just for boys, that’s why there are girl characters,” she pointed to the screen. “And see look at that. That’s a very strong and pretty woman, boys.”

“Zarya is a fictional character. If you love her so much why don’t you marry her?” The glasses boy said.

“Hey, hey, hey,” she shook her head and her hands. “Don’t distract me. I’m not teaching you this lesson right now. I’m gonna beat you up in Overwatch hand me a remote.”

“When you lose you have to leave us alone though! Seriously!” The middle son hopped up to grab a remote with a bothered groan. “Just kill her, River.” 

“Okay but when I win, actually, I’d like you all to behave and clean up your room, and also I want that dog plush you guys dropped on the floor,” she added. “Since you clearly don’t care for him.” 

River groaned. “Where’s mom? I don’t like her new assistant she’s so annoying!” He asked his brothers. 

“Well your mother is out talking about boats so please put up with me for a second while I destroy you.” She was so mad she almost missed how grimy the controllers were. She wiped her hands down on her uniform with a scoff. “Who do you main?” 

“I’m not telling you that, you wouldn’t even know,” he just rolled his eyes. 

Melissa stayed standing to play, she didn’t really want to risk sabotage right now. They were only a second into the match when there seemed to be a scuffle outside and a rushing of footsteps and a call of voices. 

“Where’s Margaret? Fetch her for me!” That was Linda. 

She was almost too distracted by her shrill voice to notice her character being shot at. “Hey! That’s your mother calling!“ she grunted, probably too invested in winning and proving her point than anything else as she fired back at him. “Lame move playing a flanker in a two player match!” She hoped if she could throw enough fancy gamer talk at him he would take her seriously. But he was just focused, not properly, but like everything else had been drowned out. 

“You’re playing an off tank though so you can’t talk.” Ah. So he knew the lingo too.  
Perhaps she had only chosen this character for their design rather than their role but she could still win. 

“Margaret!” 

She wondered if Linda was calling for her as she directed her character towards the edge of the map in an attempt to get River cornered if he followed. It was another ‘M’ name after all. 

“Mom’s calling you.”

“My name isn’t Margaret.” She was just going to deny responsibility. Serves Linda right for getting her name wrong, and serves the boys right for thinking she’d put the game down when she was winning! “It’s Melissa.” 

“Margaret!” Came Linda again, followed by a stomping of heeled boots up to the second floor. 

Melissa tried not to panic. The house is big, she could say she didn’t hear, she could say she was watching the boys, and she could say Linda was calling the wrong name. 

“River!” A brother let out a tense yelp through gritted teeth as Melissa drove her character at him in an attempt to take the last shot. “You’re losing!”

“I’m not!” He snapped. “Shut up I’m concentrating! You’re making me lose!”

Melissa was cackling to herself, she had done the math and it would take some serious effort for a turn around at this rate as she shot him again. “That’s what you get for choosing bad DPS!” She gave a triumphant laugh as she squared him down, ready to take the last couple of hits at his cornered character. 

That’s when he let out a bratty squeal. “Mom! She’s up here!” It was a voice that came from a set of lungs used to screaming for attention in a big home. 

Almost in an instant Linda swung the door open. “Margaret! I was calling you!”

River dropped the remote the second Melissa took the killing shot, and ran up to her, wrapping his arms around his mother with a ridiculously fake sob. “She’s cheating!”

“Oh my god.” She dropped the controller onto the couch, standing back up. “It’s Melissa, ma’am. That’s my name. Not Margaret. I didn’t know you were calling for me.”

Linda ran a hand through her son’s choppy, blonde hair. “Why are you playing those games? They aren’t yours! They’re for the children you were supposed to be watching!” 

Melissa dusted off her blazer, several excuses running through her head, all of which were equally good in their own right but far too extra when clumped together. “Ma’am I am from CCRP,” she repeated. “I am not a training baby sitter and you left them with me without even checking. I don’t work for you, I’ve been waiting all morning for you to come back so we can sort through your order but you we haven’t gotten around to it yet! If you don’t need my help that’s perfectly fine and I can take my leave, Mrs Monroe.” She was reading off her professional script, but inside she was quite honestly about to start bawling. Her face was red and hot and she was getting shaky. She hid that fact by widening her stance.

“Oh not without doing my orders!” She reminded her now that it was suddenly convenient. “Come to my office I have a crying child to console first.” 

“He cheated,” she growled to the younger boys as she stepped out to go hunt down her office again. At least if she was fired she could go home. She’d take the rest of the day off, perhaps have a lie down. 

It absolutely rubbed her the wrong way to get in trouble, that wasn’t her. She was a good kid, so it only made her angrier that she hadn’t even done anything wrong technically. 

She waited outside the office door, not wanting to open it without permission to prove she was indeed a good person. 

Linda graced by her without a word other than a flick of her finger and the dip of her head as she swung open the office door.

She could see it better in the daylight when Linda flicked the lights on. The interior was furnished for the gods, it was fancier than any other room in the house but Melissa couldn’t help but feel that perhaps this room wasn’t for work. Dark curtains were swept over the windows that overlooked the gardens and the the couches were a little bit big for just couches, they looked twice as expensive than the desk which seemed rather absent of actual paperwork. 

Melissa put a finger to her lip to bite down on as she considered what could be going on in this room but to be safe she decided not to take a seat on the couch. 

“I was at the boating society and you won’t believe who rang me, Emma!”

Her fight or flight response kicked in, but she couldn’t do either. She just let out a butchered attempt of a word before her body shut her jaw, almost stumbling in an attempt to run.

“How did she know you’re here? You shouldn’t be on your phone when you’re working, Marianne!”

She stayed silent, assuming it was rhetorical. She didn’t know how Emma knew unless Paul told her. “I was just talking with my friends this morning,” she choked. 

“Well I didn’t ask you to tell anyone where you are! The amount that kid can talk for someone who wants apparently ‘nothing to do with me!’ And she told me I need to let you return to your office, can you text her and tell her I’m not ‘kidnapping’ you? You know you can leave whenever you won’t don’t you dear? It’s not Emma’s business that you’re here!” It was halfway between a scolding and a gentle request in a way that made Melissa feel like a child in school again. 

“Well. You did keep me here last night so I kinda felt like it was a kidnapping,” she let out a laugh that sort of bubbled off her tongue, anxious. Linda would apologise for frightening her and let her go now wouldn’t she? That’s how it was supposed to work when you told people that sort of thing. 

“Don’t be ridiculous! This isn’t a kidnapping, Melissa, this is just a serious business opportunity! And I want you to take it as so! You should be on your phone at work. Who else have you told?”

She grabbed a piece of her hair to play with it, pulling together a messy braid. “No one,” she lied.”

“Good. Well it’s no ones news who’s working here, you understand that don’t you?” She couldn’t help but think that was just a tiny bit cultish. Although she supposed Linda wouldn’t like that word. “And now furthermore! Why is my beautiful River crying!” Her tone didn’t pull its punches. She wasn’t expecting that. “They’re angels, Madilyn, and I don’t know what you could’ve done to make River cry. He’s a big boy he shouldn’t be crying!”

“Oh well actually,” she didn’t know what to unpack first and decided to hold her tongue to further spare herself. 

“I don’t care about ‘well actually!’ I’m a wonderful mother, brilliant, and my boys have no reason to cry. What did you do to him?” No, this was not the way a worker speaks to their employees. Not with that much venom in their tone anyways, it was basically dripping from her prose. “I’ve never met anyone to be so awful with River as to make him cry! What did you do?” It was the sort of anger though that came out in one blow, she figured that once Linda was done she would hold no grudge. She hoped this would not reflect badly on the company, but babysitting wasn’t a function of CCRP. “Honestly, Madilyn. You make children cry! How are you going to make it up to him?” It was even worse when she topped her pacing to make eye contact. 

“Um, I,” her voice caught in her throat and it came out like choking. Her eyes were starting to sting like she was about to cry.   
She was still honestly deep in thought though, no, she realised, this was not that type of scolding. This was how a parent speaks to their child to demean them. She spoke like she had forgotten Melissa had the opportunity to walk out if she wanted. Like she could say whatever she want and Melissa had absolutely no choice. Did she really want to punish her that much? 

Her eyes followed her across the room as she paced before finally falling down to study her shoes, too stiff to wipe away the wetness in her eyes. 

“You only had to make sure they didn’t set the house on fire! And here River is crying to me that you were cruel and harsh and you didn’t feed them and you ruined his game! What’s that supposed to mean? Is this the sort of service you think I should be settling for!?”

She almost felt too exhausted to explain herself. She just wanted Linda to send her off now, she wanted to sit on her own so she could let that sink in for a moment to process it, but Linda just kept going.

Half way through Melissa did remember that she didn’t actually work for Linda. She was certain Mr Davidson would back her up if she just walked out. She just had a lingering fear that Linda wouldn’t let her for some reason, she had noticed the locks on the door when she came in. She hoped her office wasn’t some sort of employee torture chamber. Ugh, gross. She shivered. 

“Madilyn, you’re lucky I’m keeping you around at this rate honestly,” she heaved a heavy, almost dramatic sigh. A little too dramatic perhaps, with a very noticeable rise and fall of her chest and a toss of her head as her hand clutched at her heart. Hmm. “But I’ll sweep it under the rug this time okay? Now why are you making that face? you’d better not be crying. I’m going to take care of it since you’ve left me no other choice. Did you not hear me?”  
She scoffed, Melissa couldn’t get anything out, let alone raise her head. Her heart was racing a little too hard, she could feel it in her throat. “Well? Say something! At least tell me you got through that list of tasks I gave you this morning.”

She gave a small nod. “Yes, I sent the money,” perhaps Linda didn’t actually know how much though it seemed. Maybe she had scored with that one still. By the skin of her teeth and no less it seemed.  
She wished she hadn’t been so liberal with it knowing that this was what it was like when Linda was upset. “But not the others because I don’t think I’m actually authorised for that sort of thing.” She hoped Linda would give her a second to speak but she wasn’t fast enough. 

“Fine. That’s fine,” she let out another sigh, almost a groan, pacing back and forth like a restless animal. “We can do them later.“

“Did you just want to get the CCRP stuff over and done with?” She mumbled.

“Have you taken your lunch break yet? It’s midday,” Linda spoke louder as if to suggest she hadn’t heard Melissa.

“Oh!” She gasped out loud, holding a hand to her stomach. It had been almost twenty four hours since her last meal, and that was just yoghurt. “Oh. I haven’t.” But a lunch break implied she was coming back to work afterwards! “Uh, am I not-? Do you still want my help with your order?” 

She gave Melissa a pointed look. “We’ll get to that after you eat. What are you in a hurry for we have all day? Eat something first you look like you’re about to pass out,” she gave a small roll of her eyes. “Go on now, I’ll catch up in a moment.” She sat down at her desk, pulling a single fountain pen out of the draws. “Oh, I’m out of ink. Remind me to do something about that.”

Melissa unlocked the office door, fumbling for a moment when she had her back turned and making a run for the kitchen, she didn’t quite get how the staff lunch room worked, and no one had stopped her from accessing the pantry before. 

“Ooh,” there was quite a bit to choose from. Usually her afternoon meal was just yoghurt, it was quick to eat and she could carry it around with her. It was good for her usual office job, but she had planned on treating herself to a proper meal but alas - right in front of her was the biggest yoghurt collection she had ever seen (Not that she had seen many).

Strawberry yogurt was her go to most days, but they had just about every flavour she could imagine. Maybe Linda was a yoghurt fan too, because from what she had gathered Linda was the only one who was allowed to take up this much space in the house. 

But hey, if Linda couldn’t even get her name right surely it wouldn’t hurt to just try some. Plus, cinnamon honey vanilla just sounded like it would comfort the bad feelings in her gut after being yelled at for ten minutes. She’d just keep it a secret so she wouldn’t get another talking to.

She grabbed a spoon, only able to take the first bite when someone called from behind. “Ah!”

“Belinda, I have a perfect idea. Let’s go for lunch together!” Belinda!? That wasn’t even and ‘m’ name! Linda was standing right behind her now like she had showed up from nowhere. “You can drive me down to lakeside mall, I need to meet someone. We’re leaving now.”

“Oh!” Melissa groaned, taking a big spoonful to eat what she could before she had to drop the half finished meal in the bin. She skidded around the corner from the kitchen where Linda was tapping her foot like she had been waiting forever. 

“Here are the keys. Take me to the shops,” she sighed the order like Melissa had already disappointed her.

She gulped, scurrying our of the house quite tentatively, it had been more than twenty four hours since she had left that house and she was quite concerned that somehow this was breaking the rules.

Her car was still parked across in the loop driveway, waiting to take her away from here. Hey, it wouldn’t be a crime to run, technically. But there was something about being around Linda - she just commanded power and attention and Melissa didn’t seem to be able to walk away. 

“You’re fine with me driving your car, ma’am?” She asked before even stepping in. No one else seemed to be showing up anyways.

“Well that’s your job isn’t it?” She cocked her head to the side before pulling out her phone and sinking into her seat, waiting for Melissa to get a move on even if she still had more questions to ask. 

She wasn’t quite used to the movement of the car which made her very grateful for the looping driveway, she didn’t think she could back out in a car like this. Hers was a small one - a faded red hatchback, but this was the whole show. As if Melissa knew what sort of car it was, but it was an expensive one. A smooth black car, one of the ones with the Bluetooth screens and the seat warmers and cup holders that tucked away. Plus - a lot of seats. She had to get those four boys around somehow. 

“Put on some music,” Linda gave the offhand suggestion like she was only saying it to give Melissa something to focus on while she typed away. 

“Haha. What, my music? You wanna listen to girl in red for the next twenty minutes?” She joked only because she thought Linda wasn’t paying attention, too caught up in her phone as Melissa flicked the radio on.

“Are you trying to suggest something, Melissa?” She said without even looking up. It made her jump because that was actually her name for once. 

“Oh, yes! Melissa!” She nodded, casting a careful glance and making sure she didn’t take her eyes off the road for too long. “Oh- not the suggesting thing, what? No. I just meant that’s what’s on my-“ she was cut off as Linda pressed her phone to her ear. 

She flicked the radio back off, going as far as to hold her breath so she wouldn’t disturb the phone call.

“Yes, yes, I’m on my way now are you ready? Yes I’m ready why do you think I’m in the car? Oh well hurry up then!” She put her phone to her shoulder, giving Melissa a sarcastic look. “Can you believe it?” She whispered not low enough for the phone to ignore. “Yes! I said I was coming!” 

Melissa couldn’t help think that she sounded almost like a seagull in the way she screeched. Man. And her kids thought she had the annoying voice! She would’ve thought she’d be a nice break from their mother’s shouting, although on more than one occasion had Ted compared the way she spoke to a mouse. 

The parking lot was especially busy because it was lunch time, and she was especially terrified she would crash the car going around tight corners. 

“Yes! I’m literally in the parking lot!” Linda trilled, snacking a hand down on the dashboard. 

“Oh my god!” Melissa clapped a hand to her heart. “Sorry ma’am, could you lower your voice a bit? You scared me!”

“Oh my goodness, look. He made me do this,” she took her phone away to glare at it, totally shifting the blame. “Can you apologise to my PA right now please?” She put it on speaker. 

“Uh. I’m not her PA, I’m from CCRP,” let the records show. “It’s fine, sir.” She didn’t really want to humour Linda with this whole pity party apology just to stay innocent. “We’re here now, ma’am.”

“Lovely. Brilliant job Jessica.”

“Jessica,” she laid her head back against the head rest, really just contemplating how she had gotten here. She almost missed the ‘M’ names. “Hey Linda?” She turned to face her, almost pleading to look her in the eyes. “Linda? My name isn’t Jessica.”

“Oh?” She tapped away on her phone, her other hand reaching down to grab her bag. 

“It’s Melissa. My name is Melissa and I’d like you to tell me you know that,” she pursed her lips shut, waiting almost on baited breath for a more than lacklustre answer - just a sigh. 

“Yes I said that didn’t I?” She put her handbag over her shoulder and opened the door. “Here’s twenty dollars.” She picked the note up off the dash board, and she had no clue why. “I’ll be back in an hour and a half,” she declared before slamming the door shut again. 

“Huh!” Melissa turned in her seat to watch her go. So much for having lunch together. She undid her seatbelt and hopped out, locking the car door. 

She hurried after her but that woman had a plan it seemed, and walked rather quickly for such a short lady. 

Melissa lost track of her in the crowd the second it got too thick, and she was usually an expert at manoeuvring around a group. “Oh man.” She wandered over to a bench, sitting down to think about it.

She hadn’t brought her wallet with her since her bag was still in her car, all she had was her phone and the $20 she had been given for whatever reason. What did Linda want her to use it on?

“Ah.” She stood back up, grabbing her phone to talk to Doug while she had the chance. 

Fortunately this time they answered rather quickly, or maybe time was just starting to lose its meaning now that she had an hour and a half with absolutely nothing to do but wander.

“Hi, I’m at lakeside,” she reported. “Any chance you’re on your break?”

“You’ve just caught me clocking off,” Doug’s words were almost like a warm blanket in a situation as stressful as hers. 

It was a relief to say the least. Finally in this vaguely nightmarish scenario she was allowed a moment of peace. 

“How did the kids go?” Doug asked. 

“No, the babies have been sat Doug. It’s about Linda. It’s just, I just want to get this order done and she seems to always dodge the question!” 

“It kinda sounds to me like she’s trying to keep you around, any reason why that might be?” Doug asked like they were trying to get their own investigating done. 

She shrugged even though she knew Doug couldn’t see. “Dunno. She drove her last PA out of the place though I think. A lot easier to steal someone else’s assistant rather than recruit a new one if you don’t have a spotless rep, right?” She had thought of it on the spot, but it actually didn’t seem like bad logic. Linda clearly wasn’t the kindest employer, even aside from the whole borderline kidnapping thing. 

“Well. You said you’re gonna be home tonight, what’s it looking like bunny?” 

She made an unsure noise. “I’m just gonna put my foot down, that’s what I said. If she says no I’m just gonna tell her it’s a kidnapping if she doesn’t let me leave, and then you can show up.” Her phone cut out for a second and she moved it away from her ear. Ugh. 20%. “Sorry, what did you say?”

“I said you said that last night!” Doug pointed out.

Melissa nodded with her whole head as if to demonstrate how serious she was. “Yes! Yeah! I mean sure, the bed was literally so comfy and even the coffee here isn’t bad and they have the biggest supply of snack food I’ve ever actually seen. Yeah, it’s fancy, but I’ll come home! Of course! I miss my cat, and I miss my apartment, and I miss you of course. I’m really sorry we had to cancel our plans last night.”

“Hey it’s okay, I don’t think either of us were expecting a kidnapping,” they gave a scoff, most likely in Linda’s direction. “I have to go, I’m driving over now okay?”

“Mhm. Okay. I gotta save the charge on my phone so come find me okay?”

“Got it. Just take care.”

She gripped at the hems of her blazer, shrugging it off to fold over her hand. It was a dark grey in colour, and it didn’t make her feel very happy. The material was rough and coarse and she pulled at the sleeves of her blouse so that it wasn’t directly touching her skin. 

So she supposed she had an hour and a half to figure out what this twenty dollars was for, and she didn’t want to be called incompetent again. 

Although earlier Linda had mentioned to her she needed more ink, so off she went to get more ink - and while she was at it, probably some more of that yoghurt since she had eaten it and Linda seemed to like it anyways. 

She felt like she was making an offering to an angry god. 

She was pacing the aisles of the shopping centre when she heard Doug calling her name. It took her a moment to actually remove herself from her mind space to spin around and meet them, holding out her hands to grab them the moment they were close enough. “Doug!” 

“Oh! You’re okay!” They let out a sigh of relief, taking one of her hands to comfort her. “It must be good to get out of there.”

She shook her head. “Not free, just on probation or something I guess!” It was actually really stressful, without Linda to tell her what she expected she could be making any number of mistakes. “Can you buy me lunch?” She asked rather bluntly. “I haven’t eaten in so long,” she pouted. She didn’t have the energy to be very kind.

“Wow, tell me their feeding you,” Doug didn’t really sound like they were joking, glancing down at Melissa and what she had in her basket. “How’re you paying for that?” 

“Well, Linda gave me this money and I don’t know what for, so I’m just getting everything she’s spoken about today because she’s scary when she’s mad.” She dropped the basket down at the self check out, absently scanning her items and hoping her rushed math equations were right about the price. Her brain wasn’t working properly right now, thinking was strenuous. 

“Mad? Has she yelled at you?” 

“Umm,” Melissa continued scanning, her eyes drifting away from the screen. “Yeah, kinda. Nothing serious.”

Doug whipped around to stare out into the shopping centre like they could find Linda. They’d probably throttle her if they did. 

“Doug, Doug,” she tapped their back, grabbing their hand to turn them back around. “It’s okay. It’s fine, y’know? I made one of the kids cry I think it was justified.” She couldn’t be bothered to explain what had happened anymore. She just didn’t want to talk about it. She was tired and hungry and only had the energy to care about an escape. “I’m hungry you know?” She reminded them as she paid, picking up her things since she hadn’t been notified about bringing any bags and she didn’t want to waste a plastic bag on some yoghurt and ink. 

“Are you handling it all okay?” Doug inquired as they waited patiently for Melissa to scoff down the lunch they had brought for her. 

“Mhm,” she hummed to signal she had heard, but finished her mouthful somewhat messily first. “Well. I mean it’s not like anything really bad has happened. She kinda yelled at me for making her son cry, but I think it was faked because he just wanted me to lose this game we were playing,” she wiped her lips sleepily. She wasn’t wearing makeup today anyways. “It just scares me caus-“ she paused to take another bite, still starving. “Every time I’m like ‘let’s do the CCRP stuff so I can go home,’ she’s like ‘not yet! We’ll do it after.’ But so far I’ve done the books, the baby sitting and now I’m out here waiting for Linda to get her nails done or something.” 

Doug gave a quiet chuckle as they watched her eat as much as she could in between words. “Did you try putting your foot down?”

“Not yet today. Not really, I mean.” She finally pushed her scraps away to the centre of the table. “I tried and then she spoke over me.” 

Doug grimaced. “Ugh. I hate people like that. You want me to try talking to her for you?” 

Melissa shook her head. “I dunno. I don’t want the confrontation,” she confessed. It almost seemed more tiring than the actual kidnapping.

“That’s what she’s using to keep you there. She isn’t giving you the chance you’re supposed to take,” Doug leant in to capture Melissa’s eye contact. “If you don’t say no I’ll say it for you. Is that what you’d like?” They offered. “Mel?” 

She shook her head. “No, no. Look. Once we’re home- her house I mean, I’m really gonna make her do the CCRP stuff, even if I have to do it myself. I’ll say ‘it’s all done so I’ll head out!’ Or something like that,” she nodded. Although she had no clue where the boxes CCRP had delivered had gotten to since she had arrived. Maybe she’d have to scratch that plan. “She yells at her employees, you know.” She did have a theory brewing, only because she was quite a fan of mysteries. “And you know how like, in the hospitality industry and stuff, or what’s the word for cleaners and personal chefs and nanny’s and stuff?” Her head really was working on overtime, and she had an awful headache brewing. She rubbed her head, gritting her teeth. “You know the ones. They can have a say about who they work for. And it’s hard to get more employees if you have a bad rep.”

“Well Miss detective,” Doug rubbed their chin, playing along. “So you’re saying it’d be too hard to find another good assistant. So it’s easier to just steal one. Which is a crime just so you know. Poaching,” they seemed to guess as they picked at her leftovers. She had lost her appetite once again, but at least she had eaten. “Well. I’ve never seen something like this happen before but she’s rich. She could have anything covered up I bet.” 

Melissa watched Doug eat, trying to seem interested while her tired mind was working on other sequences. “The other employees weren’t surprised I was still there. I thought she was gonna fire me today because I thought she had figured out that I uh,” she gave an exhausted laugh. “I can’t tell you.“

“Uh oh. What’ve you been doing?” Doug raised a brow, their eating coming to a halt. 

She glanced downwards, a slight pout only if to start prepping for getting Doug’s forgiveness. “‘Can’t tell you caus you’re a cop.”

Doug was so surprised they were nonplussed, they leant back in their chair, glancing over their shoulder and then back at Melissa, jaw dropped. “What?” 

“Well,” her voice got higher than usual when she was nervous. “She let me handle the money and I sent a lot to my friend Emma, because she hadn’t actually specified how much she wanted me to send to her so I just- I mean, she’s rich. There’s no real harm in it right? It’s doing more good than evil.” Her words all sort of blended together in a hurry to get them out perhaps before Doug could process them. 

“Thats embezzlement. How much? Are you serious?”

“I think it’s only embezzlement if she’s my employer -which she is not. So I think that’s just theft. And I didn’t even take the money for myself. And she’s rich, Doug!” She reiterated. “Who am I hurting? What are you gonna do about it huh? Defend the rich? You gonna be a bootlicker Doug?” She leant in to make her point clear, assuming and hoping Doug probably couldn’t say no to her. Kidnapping was definitely the bigger of the two crimes here anyways.

“Promise me you won’t do it again. I’m serious.” There was no hint of lenience or joking in their expression or tone, just shock and worry, and she supposed that was enough to get her to consider it. “Besides,” they sighed, dropping the food they were holding back onto the wrappers. “There’s better, legal ways to get revenge. Like walking out for example and leaving her without help,” they reinforced. “Trust me, I’m all for eating the rich but it’s go big or go home you know? You’re only harming yourself with what you’re doing now.”

“Oh, boo,” she heaved a heavy sigh. “Yes, you’re right. I’ll transfer a million next time,” she joked. 

“Yeah, now that’s more like it,” Doug snickered, reaching a hand across the table to pat her on the back. “But I’d more recommend the ‘coming home’ thing. Your cat misses you. And we had those plans tonight and you promised me you’d be alright,” they frowned. “I just have to know whether this is a kidnapping thing or a ‘being too kind’ thing.” They balled up the rubbish on the table to dump it into the box it came with. “She has to let you go, right?” 

Melissa nodded. “Yeah, not like she can just chain me up right? Yeah. Yeah! I’ll be home it’s no big deal!” She said, if only to appease Doug’s growing and clear anxiety. “Promise. The bed is comfy and all but I can’t go that long without my cat,” she confessed. Yes. Coming home was the only option. “And I-“

“Meadow!” 

“Ah, Meadow, ya see?” She was too fed up to be phased about it. “What is that?”

“Oh you weren’t kidding,” Doug turned in their seat to glance over their shoulder at the small woman storming towards them. 

“I’ve been calling you, you weren’t at the car!” She huffed, hands on her hips but her expression rather unchanged anyways. “Who’s this?” 

“Are you Linda Monroe?” Doug stood up from their chair, not really towering over Linda but quite a lot taller and fitter anyways, Melissa thought it was all rather heroic. 

“Oh so you’ve heard of me? Meadow is this your friend? I heard you’re talking all about me!” She reported, side stepping Doug to single out Melissa. 

Melissa stood up quickly, hands by her sides. She was giving the both of them a very charming smile, as warm as it was wide. But not really genuine. 

Doug paused. “Her name is Melissa,” they blinked, like they hadn’t actually just heard her introduce Melissa as ‘Meadow.’ “Ma’am. Can I help you?”

“Oh I’m just leaving why? Come on, Meadow.”

“Melissa, my name isn’t Meadow it’s Melissa!” She even stomped her foot to show Doug how good she was at putting her foot down. “Are we going back now?”

Doug shot them a look to say she wasn’t really helping. “Mrs Monroe, is this your employee?” 

“She’s my PA,” she held out a hand as if to beckon Melissa over. “Why do you ask?” She kept that smile. 

“Well, uh,” Doug obviously knew it was a lie. “No she isn’t.”

“Yes she is, and we’ll be leaving now. Lovely meeting you.” 

“Uh, I’ll handle it Doug,” she promised, her hand brushing over theirs as she walked by. “I’ll go do the CCRP stuff and then I’ll be at my place in time for our date okay?” 

“Promise?” Doug asked, trailing after Melissa, who was trailing after Linda, creating an awkward sort of line. They looked entirely unconvinced and still ripe with worry.

“Mhm, promise. It’s like I said, not like she can lock me up, right?”  
———————————————————

“You would not believe the day I had,” Linda groaned as she put on her seatbelt, hands crossed and not even on her phone. “Really, Michaela.”

“It’s comedic how many times you’ve got my name wrong,” she said out loud because she really didn’t think Linda ever listened to what she was saying. “It’s Melissa. It’s like, do you not believe me or?” She dumped the contents of her deep pockets onto her lap. “I got you ink for your pen, caus you mentioned it was empty,“ she started to explain, but Linda was already looking her way for once.

“Melissa,” Linda repeated like she was thinking on it. “Oh you’re good to me. I just met up with my lawyer and let me tell you he complains! And now I’m on my way home to my husband and children and all they’re going to do is cry to me some more! Really, can a woman not just be a woman? You get me don’t you Melissa?” She put a hand down on the car console where Melissa’s had just been a second ago. 

“Yes?” She answered, just to reward Linda for getting her name right, but clinging onto the wheel as she started to drive. 

“Oh well at least even if the others annoy me I’ll have you,” she tipped her head up as if to cast shame down on them. “You never complain to me Melissa. See, I gave you that money for lunch and you used to to buy me a gift I only mentioned once, you’re so thoughtful.”

“Ooooh,” a sense of dread dropped over her. “So things didn’t go well with your lawyer huh?” Yikes, she was a professional. Melissa didn’t have a lawyer, she only had a cop who would sometimes do things for her if she asked nicely and they weren’t illegal. Clearly they were on two different playing fields. 

“No, he did not hold up on his half of the deal, that’s all you have to know,” she gave some sort of laugh, and Melissa assumed it might not have been legal business she was going to see but she didn’t want to guess what. 

“You know, a woman like me needs a very specific type of person,” Linda began.

“Working for her?” Melissa finished. “Well, hopefully when we do the CCRP stuff I will live up to your expectations,” she gave a tense smile, keeping her eyes focused on the road. 

“Well yes!” Linda exclaimed. “And isn’t it an honour, too? How have you been finding it Melissa? Are you enjoying it so far?” 

“The beds are comfy, ma’am,” she answered honestly, dreading what the ‘so far’ could mean. “But uh, I don’t technically work for you, you know?” She clicked her tongue like she was just encountering a simple mishap and was feeling quite unfortunate to deliver the bad news. 

“But you agree it’s an honour?” 

For a second everything just overwhelmed her too much. A very strong though very briefly crossed her mind that she could just swerve the car and crash it and technically she wouldn’t have to work for Linda anymore. Although the more logical, less feeling part of her brain took a moment to just as strongly inform her that she could just talk it out with Linda. “Okay this is kind of weird, ma’am,” she couldn’t hold down her laugh. “Can I help you or something?”

“Oh I appreciate you as more than just a valued employee, Melissa! Why don’t you tell me more about yourself?” 

“Uh,” her jaw felt tight all of a sudden. She didn’t really feel like Linda deserved to know anything about her, not could she produce anything of interest. “I have a cat.”

“Oh you’re too sweet Melissa!” She burst out like she was barely patient enough for Melissa to finish talking. “Too sweet and obedient to be around that grumpy person you were shopping with, they looked so upset! And you deserve to surround yourself with people who truly appreciate you,” she almost whined. “Who was that?”

“Oh my partner who I’m dating?” She choked. “Yeah no they weren’t upset they were just a little worried is all! I’d prefer if you didn’t call them that!” She parked as quickly as she could, tangling with her seatbelt. “That’s really such, oh such a funny thing for you to say actually because I actually just had to give them a call!” She threw the car door open, hopping out. 

Despite her rush though Linda got out at the same time as her. “Why are you hurrying? I’m sure they can wait for you to get inside.”

“Yeah yeah! Um!” She could feel her skin heating up. “Yeah, could you just unlock the front door?” Why did it always stay locked? She even yanked at it a few times. 

“Oh calm down, Melissa, they’ll still be there when you get there!” She put a hand on Melissa’s shoulder to guide her out of the way as she inserted her key into the lock, the second it was open she bolted upstairs before Linda could palm out any more orders that were not CCRP related.

In fact, perhaps CCRP could wait just a little bit longer, because she really needed a cold shower. 

———————————————————

She had caved this time, finally joining in on the staff dinner. She tucked herself into a chair in the corner but she could feel everyone looking at her as she poked her fork at her plate. 

“Still here, I see?” The man who has given her the list that morning commented, perhaps it was a narration for everyone else too. 

She shook her head. “No, I’m leaving right after dinner. I just need to help Linda with the CCRP stuff and then I’m running out, okay? I’m not staying here because I don’t work for her,” she stated firmly, taking a bite of her dinner to show everyone how calm she was. 

“Haha. Yeah Beth thought so too,” he laughed. 

She let her eyes follow the direction everyone else was looking, to a girl a few seats down on the other side of the table - she let out a laugh. “Oh Max, stop that. Linda didn’t kidnap me or anything!” 

The whole table started laughing. 

“No, no, I just stayed here by choice obviously!”

Melissa started eating a little quicker. 

“Hey, kid,” the man, Max, nudged her. “Don’t panic. How long have you been here for?”

“Only yesterday, but I really like my other job, and I have my own apartment!”

“Oh, seems like she’s missed a mark this time right?” Another lady put in. “Well I started working for her when I still lived with my parents. So she had me under her belt quite easily.”

“This is a joke, right guys?” She asked. “Do you all know that’s kidnapping?” 

“Well it was a little weird the first few nights, but she’s really kind to us after a while,” the woman answered. “I can still go out on the weekends and everything, she just gives me a place to stay!”

“Kind to you? Today she went off at me for making her kids cry and then a couple hours later I think she was flirting with me or something!”

Another small rumble of laughter. “Oh she’ll do that to you. It’s okay, she doesn’t really mean it. Usually it’s only for attention when she’s being ignored by someone else,” Max informed her like that made it any better.

“Oh you’re all brainwashed,” she slid out her chair, standing up and collecting her plate - sure she was gonna storm out of here but not before cleaning up her mess obviously. “She locks those front doors you know! You’re her employees, not friends! And I don’t work for her!” She smacked her plate down - gently- by the sink. 

“Can’t blame her. It’s hard to get fresh blood in when you have a record of having a hostile work environment. You get used to it though! She’s perfectly harmless!” A different man chimed in with a semi-drunken voice. “She loosens the chains after a couple weeks, just give it time. Then maybe you can sleep in your own apartment on the weekends!”

“No!” She whipped around, hands on her hips at the foot of the dining table. “I’m not just staying here, I’m not crazy, I know a kidnapping when I see one!”

“Ah so did we, but here we are!” Max didn’t seem to understand what she was making a fuss over, watching her as she stormed out.

She was not going to be held here! She didn’t care about the CCRP stuff anymore, she just marched towards the front door. They had to unlock from the inside if she could figure out how to do it - doors don’t lock from the inside! 

She fiddle with it at first, pushing once, then pulling, and pushing again. She banged her fist into it above the locking mechanism only to confirm what she dreaded, it was in fact locked. 

She pushed down harder on the handle, and convincing herself it was some sort of trick she pushed up, too. 

“Melissa, where are you going?”

The voice chilled her to her core as she turned around. “I’m going home now Linda, could you open the door for me?” She was polite, no need to make a show of it yet. “It’s locked and I can’t seem to get it open.”

“Oh what for? I was just about to invite you upstairs, you don’t have to eat with all the workers - I wanted to ask you to eat dinner with me and Gerald and the boys. They seem to be very fond of you!” 

Oh my god. This was like some sort of mind game. “Oh well I had dinner plans with my partner,” they lied. It was dessert, actually. “And I think we’re done here. If you need help with your order you can just talk to my boss.”

“I was on the phone with him earlier, and he said yes, Melissa. You can stay to help me. Neither of us expected it to be so long.” She stood with one hand on her hip, the other clasped around her phone. So nonchalant, and yet so haunting. Her eyes were just staring Melissa down despite her smile. She actually felt held in place. “He said I can have your assistance for as long as it takes to get through the order.”

Oh now Melissa knew that was a lie. He might’ve been joking the first day, but he wouldn’t fork her over for a third without her approval, and she hadn’t heard a thing from him yet. She was trying to get her to lose her job at CCRP! 

“Well, I’m going to go now, Linda. It’s nice of you to offer me a place to stay but I’m fine in my own bed! I pay rent for a reason you know,” she joked to try and break through Linda’s slowly growing hostile countenance. 

“Yes but you know how I feel about that Melissa don’t you?” Oh now she was pulling the intimacy card. “I like to get a start early in the morning, there’s no need to waste your time when I’m withholding you from Mr Davidson.” 

She shook her head, pressing her back up against the door. “No, well I don’t want to start first thing in the morning,” she denied. “Look, if you need me for the CCRP thing let’s do it at 12 okay? On my lunch break I’ll drive over and we can do it in the hour.” 

“Oh but you’re so smart, Melissa. It must take much more than an hour to get through everything and you’re the only person I know who can teach me!” 

“Well, I’ll make it quick. It’s really not that hard to understand,” she gave a nervous chuckle, trying the door knob again. “I’m gonna go now Linda, could you please open the door?”

“Well I haven’t dismissed you. Why do you think you have to leave? What don’t you have here?” It was almost cultish the way she spoke. 

“I said I’m leaving, Linda, unlock the door! I have to go home, I have a pet and an apartment I need to take care of and all my stuff is there! My clothes, my favourite foods, other stuff!” She didn’t think listing off plush toys was a good move in a power argument. “Look, I haven’t charged my phone since yesterday morning and I just need to go back to my place.”

“Well we’ve got chargers and clothes for you here! What do you want to eat? You can have anything you want,” she offered like it was no skin off her back. “Look, will it make you feel better if someone goes to your apartment and collects your cat for you? You can keep your pets here, we have a kennel out the back and I’m sure we can find a spot for her with the other cats. Then what’s the issue?”

“No, no!” That was a breaking point for her. “No, my cat doesn’t stay in a kennel, and not with other cats! She lives in my apartment and I live with her!” 

“Well she can stay in your room then, as long as she doesn’t make a mess of anything,” Linda cocked her head, clueless to what could ever possibly be an issue with her brilliant plan. 

“I’d like to go home please, Linda,” she said, solemn, consciously trying not to allow her voice to shake or quiver. She was locked in a staring contest with Linda, first to blink lost, predator and prey. 

“And I’d like you to stay here so we can get to the CCRP business first thing in the morning,” she gave a smug, proud little grin before striding away, her heels clicking against the tile floor.

“Huh?” Her heart must’ve been beating so fast in her ears that she missed it. She was just leaving? Not unlocking the door or anything? 

She raced back to the dining hall, clinging onto the door frame so she didn’t fall over when she came to a halt. “Do any of you guys know how to open the front door!” She exclaimed, her voice loud and clambering for attention in the chatty hall.

Half the room quietened, but the other half seemed obvious to her shock. 

“Sorry, kid. Linda is the only one with a key. Not even the man of the house has one.” 

She felt something catch in her throat, swivelling back around and racing up the stairs, swinging open her door and slamming it again. Loudly. She didn’t care if she broke anything. 

She grabbed out her phone, trying to hold her breath so she didn’t have to confront the way it was quivering. 

She rang Doug. Who else could she call? “Doug? Doug?” 

“Let me guess, you didn’t put your foot down?” They asked, “need me to come give you a hand?”

“Doug, um!” 

“Hey!” They stopped playing when they heard her voice. “Melissa?” 

Her name almost frightened her now. “Hi, yeah!” She greeted, glancing between the door and the window like Linda was about to burst in and cut off this escape attempt too. “Doug, I think I need you to come pick me up,” she held her breath so she wouldn’t miss Doug’s response, but nothing came through. “Doug?” 

She held her phone away from her ear, only to realise with dread that it had just run out of charge. Her hands were shaking, not even in a subtle way either, in fact as she stood up to try and sit down on the bed she realised her whole body was shaking. She let her breathing start to slip, slapping her hand to her forehead. “No, no, no,” she slapped her forehead again, pulling back on her hair to brush it out of her eyes, almost yanking on it. “No, no!” She jabbed both buttons with her fingers, trying to get it to turn on. Surely that didn’t just happen. Did her message even get through?

Half of her wanted to keel over, just lay on the floor and sleep it off, she couldn’t even make it to the bed. A more confused, unrestrained part of her wanted to swing the door off its hinges and knock down every door in this floor until she found Linda’s room and beat the woman to a pulp. 

In the end, neither side won the fight.   
She clenched her phone as tight as she could before dropping it, and she just screamed. Witnesses did not matter to her, she had never felt like this in her life. The way the anger and confusion and fear built up inside her chest and her skull like a whirlwind of their own, the pressure so high she was sure her bones would break. 

She dropped down, not on her knees, she just had to be closer to the floor. She gripped at her hair, pulling on it hard as she muffled her screaming into her palm, biting down on the skin of the heel with her teeth, she could still scream through it.

And as her throat began to dry from screaming and her lungs began to protest, she realised she could scream no longer. And she had no more plans to fall back on, emotional or practical, she was too tired. 

She wanted to do something, but what hadn’t she already tried? It was helplessness, is what the feeling was. She was helpless to be helpless, there was nothing she could do anymore.

This had to have all been planned, it was her fault. It was plotted and executed perfectly - otherwise how could this be happening?   
———————————————————

Ugh. She didn’t remember getting into bed nor crying herself to sleep but the funny feeling on her face would imply otherwise. 

The clock read seven thirty, which would’ve really killed her if there wasn’t something a lot more shocking happening outside. It had been the flashing red and blue lights pouring through her window that had woken her up.

Uh oh. She couldn’t see anything good coming from this. 

She shrugged off the blazer and skirt she had fallen asleep on, rubbing down her skin with her hands to get rid of the prickly feeling the material had left. 

She quickly buttoned up her blouse, much more comfortable in her own clothes, she skipped down the steps, following the noise of chatter. 

The sirens weren’t actually on, she noticed. Just the lights, and as she neared the end of the staircase she recognised Doug’s voice. 

She was relieved mostly, but was also considering turning back to hide. She couldn’t believe Doug was pulling the cop card to rescue them, even if it was at this rate a genuine kidnapping. 

“Were you aware, ma’am?”

Oh my god, were they trying to arrest Linda? That was just a little bit drastic. A warning would do fine. She crept down to the last step, holding onto the railing to ground her as she leant most of her weight forward off the staircase, trying to get a better point of view of whatever was happening in the living room. 

“Well it’s not serious, but I think to be safe you should let me handle the affairs from here, is there anything you’d like to say now, ma’am?”

“Well I would hardly expect that! She didn’t strike me as the type at all!” Came Linda’s dramatic whine, and a quiet murmuring from Gerald. 

“Well, she did say something funny to me the other day,” Gerald hummed. “She has a bit of an attitude. See Linda, this is why you can’t pick employees up off the street.”

Uh oh. They were talking about her. ‘Off the street’ was a bit rude, but what was going on? She hopped down onto the floor, creeping a few steps forward just to see if she could read the mood. 

“Oh don’t tell me what to do, Gerald!” Linda snapped. “It’s your money too!”

Melissa didn’t even feel her body run cold. It just was. Oh my god, Doug had told them. 

“Someone go fetch Michaela!” Linda squealed. 

“It’s Melissa,” Doug tried to speak over Linda but god was the woman loud. 

Gerald stood up but Melissa hurried in, standing behind Doug in case Linda did anything. “No need, I’m here,” she gulped, wanting to reach out to hold Doug’s hand but not even sure where she stood with anyone in the room right now. 

Linda let out a wail. “I let myself be vulnerable and you betray me!” She spat, rather theatrically. “This is why I don’t hang around other women any more,” she tossed her head to the side, resting it on Gerald’s shoulder as he gave her a sympathetic pat on the back. “We know everything, Michaela!” 

“Ah yes, this is who I am here for,” Doug swung out an arm to take Melissa under it. “A dangerous criminal. It’s a good thing we’ve stopped this before it got serious, fortunately.”

“Linda, sweet, you didn’t technically specify how much you wanted her to send to Emma, it was a gift, you can’t be too mad. Just don’t do it next time.” 

“Oh well thank you for your help, Gerald!” She thwacked his knee, pushing herself away from him. “Just get her out of my sight. I don’t care what you do, thank you so much Officer, come back any time you like, you’re truly our hero.” Linda wouldn’t even look Melissa in the eye, which might’ve been a good thing because Melissa was in no rush to see if her eyes matched the disgust in her tone. 

Melissa held her hands behind her back, not sure if this was a proper arrest or not, but all Doug did was dip their head respectfully and grab her back. “No, I don’t think I will be taking you up on that offer any time soon Mrs Monroe. Have a day.”

“Didn’t even say good?” Melissa whispered as Doug raced to usher her out. 

“Shut up, I was nervous. I don’t want her having a good day,” Doug whispered back. “Where’s my thanks?”

“Well you’re arresting me are you not?” 

The door was left open from Doug’s entrance, but they heaved it shut as they left. They dusted their hands down on their pants, only holding Melissa by her hand now. “No. I just figured if you didn’t want me arresting her that a little bit of acting was next on the plan.” They walked hand in hand towards the squad car. “Did you like it?”

“I’m literally so embarrassed, Doug.”

“Hey. I never said I was here on duty, rich people just let anyone in blue in. Wanna ride in the front?” They hoped into the driver’s seat. 

“Oh, but my car,” Melissa opened up the passenger door but had stopped to glance about for her vehicle.

“I had Rob do me a favour and take it back to your apartment for you. It’s all good,” Doug dipped their head up like they were trying to impress her. “I handled it all. See? You should’ve just called me earlier. Don’t think I wanted to miss out on bullying the rich. This was fun - sorry for fake arresting you though. I just didn’t know what else to do.”

“No, no. You were really my hero, haha,” it was a good laugh this time. One that wasn’t forced or stressed or exhausted. She sunk into the seat, resting her eyes briefly only to open them to resume looking at Doug. “Did you get my call last night?”

“Yes! And you sounded so panicked but I thought maybe you were just hanging up so Linda didn’t here,” they confessed. “So I thought, if I don’t here from you in the next hour I’m kicking the doors in at the first sign of sunlight.” 

“Ohhh, and did you!” She perked up. She would love some revenge on those doors.

“No,” Doug sighed. “Someone opened them for me when I pulled in. But, we’ll get ‘em next time.”

Melissa snorted, struggling to hold back her smile. “Thank you Doug. You really saved me.”

“Mm, now let’s get you back to your real job huh?”

“Ooh,” Melissa felt nauseous, but even now she could still laugh. “Yeah haha, I guess so.”

Doug raised a brow, trying to read the mood. “Want me to use the cop card to give you an excuse off work? You look like you could use a day off,” they offered. “I could tell them you’re a witness and I need to interview you.” 

Melissa chuckled with a swooping shake of her head. “It’s okay, Doug. I think it’ll be nice to get back to my real job,” she locked it in with a nod and a yawn. She’d get some coffee from Beanies later - it wasn’t as good as Linda’s but drinking from a Beanies cup would make her feel much better right about now. 

Besides, she’d take signing papers and sending emails over babysitting and booking any day.


End file.
